BRUSSELS, Oct 18: Nato urged member states on Tuesday to come forward with helicopters and specialised forces such as construction engineers and medics to boost alliance efforts to help victims of the Kashmir earthquake.
Nato aircraft began lifting aid supplies to airports in Pakistan last week. But the alliance wants to deploy dozens of helicopters to bring aid closer to victims and send in hundreds of personnel skilled in disaster relief work.
“Political approval of this is expected later this week,” Nato spokesman James Appathurai told a news briefing, referring to a possible meeting of Nato ambassadors on Friday to approve plans being formulated by the alliance’s military arm.
At least 41,000 people in Pakistan died in the quake, making it one of the most devastating tremors to hit South Asia in recorded history.
Nato has a 17,000-strong rapid reaction force set aside for tasks such as combat, anti-terrorism and disaster management. It includes army engineers and a medical unit but is short of the helicopters vital to deliver aid to often remote areas.
The push for Nato members to provide more resources comes after Washington unilaterally said last week it expected to have 40 of its military helicopters on the ground in coming weeks. Germany has already sent two of its helicopters.
Appathurai rejected suggestions that Nato was proving slow to act, saying it had already mobilised a small fleet of Boeing 707s to deliver aid and was preparing to lift several hundred tons of humanitarian supplies from Turkey for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Nato is an inter-governmental body. It does not and cannot move as quickly as an individual nation. This is lightning pace for this organisation,” he said. “Nato is not, nor does it see itself to be, a high-end relief organisation.”—Reuters
