Helicopters to provide food for 3,000 residents in cut-off areas
VOV.VN - Helicopters are set to be deployed to drop daily necessities in Phuoc Thanh and Phuoc Loc communes of Quang Nam province, where approximately 3,000 local residents have been left cut off by flooding and landslides in recent days.
The decision was made during a meeting of the Quang Nam provincial Military Command on October 31 to discuss methods in which to supply food to needy people in isolated areas.
Air transport represents both the quickest and most effective way in which to deliver daily necessities to the needy, according to Colonel Nguyen Viet Hung of Air Force Division 372. He said supplies are ready for pickup at Da Nang airport, and helicopters are set to take off as soon as the weather conditions allow.
According to Colonel Hung, it will take more than an hour in which to conduct a journey, and there is no limit on the number of flights which can be taken between 07:00 a.m. and 17:00 p.m. daily. To get necessary items to those in need, each flight will carry over one tonne of supplies for local people.
Furthermore, authorities are considering land transport as another means of delivering supplies to residents in distress. This will see goods transported to areas which border the isolated communes, from there, rescue forces will use pulleys in order to bring goods to the top of the hill where militiamen from the two communes will then receive the items and transport them back to the villages.
Due to the period of heavy rain and series of deadly landslides, militiamen and local people who are accustomed to local topography will be mobilised as opposed to soldiers to transport supplies to the assembly point, authorities agreed.
At present, 50 tonnes of rice has already been transported to the assembly point, with a further 50 tonnes due to arrive by late October 31. Local authorities have prepared daily necessities for the supply operation which is scheduled to start on November 1.