C-17s Rush U.S. Rescue Groups to Türkiye After Earthquake

A pair of U.S. Air Drive C-17s arrived in Türkiye on Feb. 8, carrying catastrophe reduction personnel and tools to assist with the restoration from an enormous earthquake. 

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which struck Feb. 5, has killed a minimum of 12,000 individuals throughout Türkiye and Syria and sparked a humanitarian catastrophe—tens of hundreds injured, many individuals homeless, and others nonetheless trapped beneath the rubble. 

U.S. Transportation Command was tapped to move support, and inside 24 hours of notification, two flights departed, one every from Dover Air Drive Base, Del.; and March Air Reserve Base, Calif. The plane have been from the 305th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and the 176th Wing of the Alaska Air Nationwide Guard. 

“Air Mobility Command, beneath the route of U.S. Transportation Command and in coordination with The U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement is offering airlift to help emergency humanitarian help to reply to the devastating impacts following the earthquake within the area,” an AMC spokesperson informed Air & Area Forces Journal. 

In response to a launch from TRANSCOM, the 2 flights carried 159 individuals, 12 rescue canine, and 170,000 kilos of specialised tools.  

That included specialists and tools from Fairfax County, Va., and Los Angeles County, Calif. Each groups are licensed by the U.S. Company for Worldwide Improvement for worldwide catastrophe help efforts. 

Touchdown at Incirlik Air Base, they have been greeted by U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Jeffry Flake. The 728th Air Mobility Squadron assisted in receiving and unloading the plane. Incirlik, positioned some 200 kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter, suffered no main injury, in keeping with the thirty ninth Air Base Wing‘s Fb web page. Some amenities have been closed on base, however all personnel have been secure and accounted for.  

Extra assist is predicted: Air Drive Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the Pentagon’s chief spokeman, informed reporters {that a} crew from U.S. European Command would arrive Feb. 9 to help USAID’s Catastrophe Help Response Group. Different support is probably going within the weeks forward. U.S. Air Drive property are essential for transporting personnel, tools, and humanitarian support in response to pure disasters.