Water purification tablets, tents, prefabricated homes and other foreign aid arrived yesterday as typhoon-battered Taiwan coped with the aftermath of its worst weather disaster in 50 years.
A US military C-130 transport aircraft from a US airbase in Okinawa, Japan, arrived at Tainan Air Force Base with 6,800kg of plastic sheeting for makeshift housing, the Central Emergency Operation Center (CEOC) said.
This was the first official landing by a US military transport aircraft at a military airbase in Taiwan for humanitarian purposes since the US switched political recognition from the Republic of China to the People’s Republic of China in 1979 and pulled out its US troops based in Taiwan.
The aircraft arrived in Tainan at 2:50pm and flew back to Okinawa immediately after discharging its cargo.
“We have been looking at what materials are available and what kind of services we have to commute the items Taiwan needs,” Christopher Kavanagh, press officer at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), told the Central News Agency.
At least one US heavy-lift CH-53E helicopter will arrive in Taiwan today to assist in relief operations in southern Taiwan, Ministry of National Defense officials said yesterday, adding it would be delivered by an amphibious transport dock ship — also known as a landing platform dock — in waters near Taiwan, from where the chopper will fly to the Tainan air base.
“The US military is now working to have its CH-53E helicopter take part in humanitarian post-disaster relief efforts in Taiwan,” a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
As the CH-53E chopper can transport a 16-tonne payload, its arrival is expected to help with relief and rehabilitation work in mountainous areas that were cut off from the outside world in the storm, the official said.
Representatives of the US Agency for International Development have arrived to assess what additional aid Taiwan may need. The EU will also send representatives to Taiwan in the coming days for the same purpose.
The government said it also received US$1.14 million in medical supplies from Singapore and water purifiers and high-speed water-transport equipment from Israel.
An Emirates Airlines flight arrived in Taipei early yesterday with shelter boxes donated by the UK’s Shelter Box Trust, which is administered by the Helston-Lizard Rotary Club in Cornwall, disaster response officials said.
The shelter boxes, which will soon be delivered to the hardest-hit disaster zones, contain a 10-person tunnel tent, 10 sleeping bags and accessories including a multifuel cooker, water purifier, a spade and rope.
China Airlines also airlifted a shipment of emergency supplies donated by Australia to Taipei early yesterday free of charge. The supplies include 200,000 water purification tablets, 5,040 large buckets for treating water and for general household use, 100 sanitizer spray packs that hold disinfectant, and repellent to spray around buildings for disease prevention.
Fan Liqing (范麗青), a spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, was quoted by CNA as saying that “whatever Taiwan needs, we will work to assist.”
The CEOC said the first shipment of prefabricated homes promised by China would arrive tomorrow.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said more than 59 countries have offered to provide assistance to Taiwan.
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