Canada: relief convoy, mobile hosptials
Published: September 6, 2005
Prime Minister Paul Martin was dockside Tuesday as a Canadian relief convoy prepared to depart Tuesday afternoon for hurricane-ravaged Louisiana.
Three navy ships, a coast guard vessel, several Sea King helicopters and about 1,000 personnel were to leave by mid-afternoon for the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The ships packed enough supplies for two to three months in the region, which was devastated by hurricane Katrina just over a week ago.
Officials have yet to determined where the ships will anchor when they arrive in the area later this week.
“We don’t know how long we’re going to be there - that’s going to be determined as we go along, as we progress,” said Lieut. Brian Owens of HMCS Halifax.
“Obviously the mission is changing day to day, so we’re going to do what we can. . . . The crew is extremely happy to do this.”
Naval crews were busy all weekend loading the ships with gear and supplies that included massive tents, 1,200 cots, body bags, assault boats, lumber, pollution cleanup equipment, even diapers and baby wipes.
An American padre who has been part of an exchange program to Canada will accompany the ship’s crew on HMCS Athabaskan.
Lt.-Col. David Schilling said he’s familiar with the hardest hit area of southern Louisiana.
“The greatest need right now is probably just to find places for people and for people to have places to go,” he said.
Navy divers have also been dispatched to New Orleans from Halifax and Esquimalt, B.C., to help their U.S. counterparts clear navigational hazards such as loose barges and inspect damaged levees.
The supply ships and divers are part of a broader Canadian aid mission, dubbed Operation Unison.
The medical supplies being run from blankets and beds to syringes, surgical gowns, latex gloves, bandages, dressings and even tongue depressors.
Although the emphasis for now will be on basic supplies, as time goes on Canada could consider sending more sophisticated equipment, such as mobile hospitals.
The material is coming from stockpiles maintained by Canadian authorities as part of their own disaster preparedness plans.
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