Thursday, July 30, 2009

HOW TO: Do a food airdrop

NAIROBI, 30 July 2009 (IRIN) - The humanitarian cavalry is the food airdrop: when you need to shift serious tonnage in a hurry to somewhere inaccessible, nothing quite does it like a large cargo plane and skilled pilot and crew.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), air drops have delivered 1.5 million tons of aid in the world's worst emergencies over the past 15 years. In its busiest operation, in south Sudan, 2.5 million people in need were reached between 1990 and 2005. It's an expensive enterprise, and these days humanitarian agencies prefer to build roads to reach the vulnerable. Road construction and repair in southern Sudan has made overland delivery roughly 50 percent cheaper than by air.

But roads can be washed away in heavy rains, or closed by conflict; in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, airdrops are the only practical way to supply 130,000 people displaced by fighting around Dungu. The last convoy of trucks to reach the town from Uganda took 35 days to drive a distance of 520kms - compared to less than two hours by plane.

So, how do you do an airdrop?

The aircraft

There are basically three types of aircraft that do the job: the Antonov-12 (hauling about 15 tons), the Hercules C-130 (18 tons), and the Iluyshin-76 (36 tons). The choice of aircraft is down to the operator hired by the humanitarian agency, but all must be specially equipped and certified. They are big and thirsty, and need a ground crew of two or three engineers, plus a project manager, to keep flying safely.

If you've got a forklift, loading can be as quick as 15 minutes; for the monster Iluyshin, it's about 45 minutes. Air missions usually last between two and four hours, covering distances of between 200kms to 600kms. At the height of the southern Sudan operation, daily sorties were being flown from Nairobi and Lokichokio in Kenya, as well as Khartoum and El Obeid in Sudan.

The food

Usually it's only food powder, pulses or grain that is dropped - 50kg per bag. There is nothing special about how the food is readied before loading except it's triple packed into three 90kg sacks, which are then stitched together. According to WFP, four electric sewing machines should be able to handle 5,000 sacks a day. The reinforced bags survive most drops; the wastage rate is a tiny 2 percent.

In the past plywood pallets also exited the plane, coming in handy as construction material or firewood for people on the ground. But it increased the cost of airdropping, and their uncertain trajectory also made them a bit dangerous. New dropping techniques means just the food falls.

The Drop Zone (DZ)

Rocks, swamps, people - or roaming livestock - make for a bad DZ. Choosing the drop zone is the responsibility of the ground controllers, typically a radio-equipped food monitor and/or logistics officer. They mark out the DZ, ensure security, communicate with the aircraft, and work with the local relief committee to gather the dropped food aid and organise distribution.

The size of the DZ depends on the type of aircraft making the drop, but generally it's 200 meters by 1,000 meters, marked out by white food bags, with a cross dead centre. The area is secured - with a 200 meter perimeter outside the DZ - at least one hour before the scheduled drop, and it's the ground controller who clears the aircraft to release its cargo.

The pilot

Airdropping is specialised, it's normally only former military pilots that have the training. They generally drop from just over 200 metres above the ground to reduce impact on the bags. Two loadmasters supervise the cargo, and release on the pilot's command. The dropping system used is down to the operator, with the cargo arranged in either a single or double row configuration; if it's single row, it exits the plane all in one go.

On final approach to the DZ, the pilot keeps the plane's speed down to around 185kph, and lifts the nose by 8 to 10 degrees; when the loadmasters releases the bands holding the food in place, gravity takes over and the bags tumble to the ground.

"Once the drop is finished, you lower the nose, give some power and close the ramp at the back," former navigator on a C-130, Philippe Martou, told IRIN. "You do a low pass to have a look at the DZ, to see if possible, whether you can drop better next time."

oa/bp

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Beautifully imperfect

Alfatihah to my dear friend.
May god bless her soul.



In the end,
its the small things that you remember,
the little imperfection,
that make them perfect
for you





Friday, July 24, 2009

Last day in Gaza


Subuh di Gaza

We are out.
Forced actually

Sunset at Suez Canal

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Here and There in Gaza


Cute

Imagine she will grow up with just having his dad around.
lost the whole family during the bombing
anybody interested to do haji n qurban program in Gaza?

Mike sedang berfikir......

Fikirrrrr

yg ni fikir ka layan sms.....


interview with the Hamas fighter

Gaza night market

I miss those strawberries


fruitssssss

kacang amenda tah. budak jual rokok


our last sunset in Gaza.

we will come back.............

Somalia: Red Crescent staff member killed in Mogadishu




22 Jul 2009 15:30:51 GMT


Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
220224 logo

Geneva (ICRC) – A staff member of the Somali Red Crescent Society was killed in the centre of Mogadishu on Tuesday afternoon, 21 July.

Farah Aden Mo'allim was travelling in a public transport vehicle when he was caught in crossfire and hit by a stray bullet.

He died instantly, before he could be taken to the nearest hospital.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Somali Red Crescent are deeply saddened by the incident and wish to extend their heartfelt condolences to the family.

"The death of our dear colleague is devastating news and illustrates once more how dangerous it is to live and work in Mogadishu.

Providing victims of the armed conflict with humanitarian aid often means risking your own life," said Dr Ahmed M.

Hassan, the president of the Somali Red Crescent.

Although the staff member was not deliberately targeted, the ICRC and the Somali Red Crescent are deeply concerned about the plight of civilians caught up in the fighting and call on all warring parties to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law, and in particular to draw a distinction at all times between civilians and persons taking direct part in hostilities.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Gaza Daytime part 3


They live n sleep n cook and eat in this hut.

Nothing is left


another mosque being hit

their house is next to the mosque.
kena jugak la

this radio station is run by the disabled.
the DJ is blind.

expressive
victim of target practise
Lembu dan kambing pon kena jugak
"Eh tak kena!.....kan dah kena"

anak anak gaza menceritakan pengalaman mereka melalui lukisan

this wall have a story to tell

Gaza Daytime part 2





Syahdu Khutbah dia

..............

We found something.......


whats left


Israil Jet Fighters doing some aerial display......
Actually is was bombing session for them.
we have to run.
but where to hide?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Gunmen raid aid compound in Sudan's Darfur, one hurt

another 1 today


* Aid worker wounded

KHARTOUM, July 21 (Reuters) -

Armed raiders forced their way into an aid compound belonging to Swiss charity Medair in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region and opened fire, wounding a humanitarian worker, a Medair official said on Tuesday. "A staff member has been slightly injured when an armed raid entered our compound," a Medair official in Switzerland told Reuters. "They entered the compound with forced entry and they shot ... and hurt one of our team members." The official said the humanitarian worker was hit by shrapnel during the robbery early on Monday in El Geneina in West Darfur.

Some electronic equipment was stolen, she said. Sudan's al-Rai al-Aam newspaper identified the wounded aid worker as a British man, but the Medair official could not immediately give the nationality of the person who was hurt. Law and order has collapsed in Darfur since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan's government in 2003, accusing Khartoum of marginalising the western region. Sudan's government mobilised mostly Arab militias to crush the rebellion. Since then, the conflict has disintegrated into a free-for-all involving bandits, rebel factions, government troops, militias and rival tribes.

Estimates of the death count in the ethnic and politically motivated conflict range from 10,000 according to Khartoum, to 300,000 according to U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes. The U.N. and aid groups have launched the world's largest humanitarian operation in Darfur to care for millions of civilians caught up in the conflict. Sudan's government has promised to protect U.N. and other development organisations after a decision from the Hague-based International Criminal Court in March to indict President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Darfur war crimes accusations. But senior officials have said they might not be able to control individual extremists who say the court is part of a Western conspiracy against Sudan.

(Reporting by Cynthia Johnston in Cairo and Khalid Abdel Aziz in Khartoum; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Gaza Daytime


Talk about Kebab?
nothing can beat them

solat jumaat open air di gaza....
orang Malaysia sembahyang pakai songkok.
kat sana ada yg pakai hardhat.
Just in case

Hj Anuar..


"Lembutnya tangan dia..."
Free Gaza Presiden tgh nak pasang pin kat kolar dia lah.

Red Gold Of Gaza
1 kilo 4 hengget.

i saw lots of superbikes in Gaza.ni ja yg sempat capture

the survivor

makan kuaci ja la.....

that end is israil.walking distance ja.lots of sniper
walk towards that way n thats it.

The future generation

Donors....This is where your money goes to









 

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