Meulaboh, Indonesia
The main focus of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) humanitarian assistance to Indonesia centers on the town of Meulaboh on the west coast of Sumatra. The Straits Times (David Boey, Jan 7) reported that this was agreed upon in a meeting between PM Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, who oversees the Bakornas council that was set up to coordinate disaster relief in the country.
Ariel Photos of Meulaboh in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami (photo from tagesschau.de)
Meulaboh is one of the areas hit worst by the earthquake and tsunami of Dec 26. An estimated 10,000 died when the killer waves struck, shaving off a quarter of its population of around 40,000. The town has been cut off from the world since then and remains inaccessible by land. Communications are being gradually restored through the assistance of the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) humanitarian assistance task force.
The main Singapore units operating in Meulaboh include
Arrived Jan 2:
RSS Endurance (a STEM-1400 class LST, or Landing Ship, Tank), with 472 personnel including a medical team, an engineer team and a logistics support team; engineering equipment and vehicles on board (472 personnel)
Arrived Jan 6:
RSS Persistence (also a LST), with another 203 personnel; other heavy equipment such as cranes, 4 BRONCO All Terrain Track Carriers; medical supplies from the Singapore Red Cross.
In addition
There are 6 Chinook and 2 Super Puma Helicopters operating out of Medan supplying Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. As early as 30 Dec, the Chinooks brought 12,000 lbs of food and supplies into Meulaboh.
The LSTs are 140m long, approx. 6000+ tons (or 8000 tons full load), and able to support 2 medium size helicopters. The Chinooks have since used them as landing ships. A detailed write up of these ships can be found here.
I'll post something about the various sorts of equipment and machines involved in the days to come.
What have they done so far (most of these items are collated from MINDEF press releases; others from ST articles; the photos are from the MINDEF website):
- The two LSTs are functioning as helicopter landing deck and refulling points, allowing them to function for longer distances. Apart from SAF helicopters (both Super Pumas and Chinooks), there is also a report of a helicopter from the USS Duluth picking up supplies from one of the LSTs and delivering them ashore.
- SAF engineers established two landing sites which facilitated the movement of the heavy engineering equipment and vehicles ashore, not to mention the humanitarian supplies. It turns out that the tsunami and subsequent flooding had caused the shoreline of Meulaboh to changed, making the operation particularly difficult (Jan 3). The equipment are being used to clear roads and prepare landing strips for aircraft.
- The medical team set up a field hospital and provided medical treatment to the people (Jan 3). The surgical team set up an operating theatre in the field hospital and helped to link up Indonesian doctors with other aid agencies such as the Japanese Red Cross (Jan 6).
THE SAF Medical team in action.
- SAF communications specialists assisted Telkomsel, the Indonesian telecommunication company, to restore the civilian communications infrastructure in Meulaboh. Telecommunications equipment needed to set up the local GSM network was flown in by the SAF’s helicopters (Jan 6).
- SAF engineers began clearing an area which will be used to establish a logistics distribution hub in Meulaboh. This hub will be a storage, co-ordination and distribution point for humanitarian and reconstruction aid (Jan 6)
- Men from the 7th Singapore Infantry Brigade of the Singapore Armed Forces Guardsmen set up a mobile water-purification plant. The town lost its supply of processed water since the tsunami. The plant, which is mounted on a Mercedes-Benz GD290 truck, can process water drawn from the sea, river or lake at a rate of 500 litres an hour. It is being used to purify the muddy seawater to fill three trailers, each able to hold 900 litres of water, for the refugee camps (Jan 6; David Boey ST).
Water purification unity and water storage trailer
- All the SAF’s engineer equipment have been brought ashore from the landing ships. The SAF engineers have also prepared a helicopter landing point close to the landing beach. This will allow the SAF’s Chinook helicopters to airlift a greater volume of humanitarian supplies into Meulaboh (Jan 8).
Engineers prepares the Chinook landing site near the beach.
- Helped environmental activists from Greenpeace to unload relief supplies from the Rainbow Warrior, presently anchored off the Meulaboh coast (Jan 9; David Boey ST).
It's an ongoing effort.
Ariel Photos of Meulaboh in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami (photo from tagesschau.de)
Meulaboh is one of the areas hit worst by the earthquake and tsunami of Dec 26. An estimated 10,000 died when the killer waves struck, shaving off a quarter of its population of around 40,000. The town has been cut off from the world since then and remains inaccessible by land. Communications are being gradually restored through the assistance of the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) humanitarian assistance task force.
The main Singapore units operating in Meulaboh include
Arrived Jan 2:
RSS Endurance (a STEM-1400 class LST, or Landing Ship, Tank), with 472 personnel including a medical team, an engineer team and a logistics support team; engineering equipment and vehicles on board (472 personnel)
Arrived Jan 6:
RSS Persistence (also a LST), with another 203 personnel; other heavy equipment such as cranes, 4 BRONCO All Terrain Track Carriers; medical supplies from the Singapore Red Cross.
In addition
There are 6 Chinook and 2 Super Puma Helicopters operating out of Medan supplying Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. As early as 30 Dec, the Chinooks brought 12,000 lbs of food and supplies into Meulaboh.
The LSTs are 140m long, approx. 6000+ tons (or 8000 tons full load), and able to support 2 medium size helicopters. The Chinooks have since used them as landing ships. A detailed write up of these ships can be found here.
I'll post something about the various sorts of equipment and machines involved in the days to come.
What have they done so far (most of these items are collated from MINDEF press releases; others from ST articles; the photos are from the MINDEF website):
- The two LSTs are functioning as helicopter landing deck and refulling points, allowing them to function for longer distances. Apart from SAF helicopters (both Super Pumas and Chinooks), there is also a report of a helicopter from the USS Duluth picking up supplies from one of the LSTs and delivering them ashore.
- SAF engineers established two landing sites which facilitated the movement of the heavy engineering equipment and vehicles ashore, not to mention the humanitarian supplies. It turns out that the tsunami and subsequent flooding had caused the shoreline of Meulaboh to changed, making the operation particularly difficult (Jan 3). The equipment are being used to clear roads and prepare landing strips for aircraft.
- The medical team set up a field hospital and provided medical treatment to the people (Jan 3). The surgical team set up an operating theatre in the field hospital and helped to link up Indonesian doctors with other aid agencies such as the Japanese Red Cross (Jan 6).
THE SAF Medical team in action.
- SAF communications specialists assisted Telkomsel, the Indonesian telecommunication company, to restore the civilian communications infrastructure in Meulaboh. Telecommunications equipment needed to set up the local GSM network was flown in by the SAF’s helicopters (Jan 6).
- SAF engineers began clearing an area which will be used to establish a logistics distribution hub in Meulaboh. This hub will be a storage, co-ordination and distribution point for humanitarian and reconstruction aid (Jan 6)
- Men from the 7th Singapore Infantry Brigade of the Singapore Armed Forces Guardsmen set up a mobile water-purification plant. The town lost its supply of processed water since the tsunami. The plant, which is mounted on a Mercedes-Benz GD290 truck, can process water drawn from the sea, river or lake at a rate of 500 litres an hour. It is being used to purify the muddy seawater to fill three trailers, each able to hold 900 litres of water, for the refugee camps (Jan 6; David Boey ST).
Water purification unity and water storage trailer
- All the SAF’s engineer equipment have been brought ashore from the landing ships. The SAF engineers have also prepared a helicopter landing point close to the landing beach. This will allow the SAF’s Chinook helicopters to airlift a greater volume of humanitarian supplies into Meulaboh (Jan 8).
Engineers prepares the Chinook landing site near the beach.
- Helped environmental activists from Greenpeace to unload relief supplies from the Rainbow Warrior, presently anchored off the Meulaboh coast (Jan 9; David Boey ST).
It's an ongoing effort.
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