Media Room: Defence Speech

                                                                                                                                           

OPERATION PADANG ASSIST: DEFENCE SUPPORT TO THE INDONESIAN EARTHQUAKE

 

R1 Theatrette, Russell Offices Canberra
Tuesday, 6 October 2009

 

 

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CHIEF OF JOINT OPERATIONS, LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS

 

Thank you very much for attending this afternoon.

 

I’d like to provide you with an operational update on the situation in Padang and the work that the Australian Defence Force has been undertaking since they arrived on Friday evening. The ADF’s contribution is part of a coordinated response involving Defence, DFAT, AusAID and Indonesian authorities. This high level of coordination has been crucial to the success of the mission thus far.

 

Firstly, I should thank the Indonesian authorities for enabling us to provide rapid air support and engineer and medical reconnaissance assistance into Padang so soon after the earthquake.

 

As with all such natural disasters it takes some time to gain a clear picture of the degree of the problem, casualties and damage to infrastructure. It was this early access that enabled us to shape our contribution early.

 

Since the earthquake on Wednesday Defence has acted quickly to establish a Joint Task Force which continues to work closely with Indonesian authorities, DFAT, AusAID and other agencies to ensure our emergency support is appropriate and delivered to where it is needed most.

 

As you are aware, our efforts now need to move from rescue to recovery and we will be supporting the Indonesian authorities in their efforts to restore normalcy as soon as possible.

 

Indonesian authorities are continually assessing the situation. Their current appraisal is that power and water are their primary concern. The Indonesian Government and commercial operators are quickly restoring power.

 

Of the five hospitals in Padang, only the DJAMIL hospital has suffered major damage. The 800-bed hospital is operating at 400-beds with four operating rooms. According to the World Health Organisation, there is no requirement for additional medical support to Padang.

 

We see three main lines of ADF support being provided to Indonesian authorities – air transport, medical, and engineering support.

 

Air transport

The Royal Australian Air Force has provided substantial air-lift support to this operation. Firstly, to transport the advance elements of the medical and engineer elements into Padang and then providing support to Indonesian authorities and other agencies as part of the emergency response. The two RAAF C-130 crews continue to work tirelessly from Jakarta to Padang in support of the international aid effort. The C-130 operators are to be congratulated. The invaluable role and response capability of strategic airlift provided by the C-17 Globemaster is also to be recognised.

 

Medical support

An ADF medical capability comprised of a Primary Health Care Team and forward elements from the 1^st Health Support Battalion have arrived in Padang.

 

This medical capability is currently moving to Siegeringging (See-gering-ging) village 75 kilometres North West of Padang on request of the Indonesian authorities to provide health support in the outlying region. The team includes doctors, nurses, environmental health, clinical and emergency health care support.

 

A field hospital remains pre-positioned in Darwin ready to be called forward, if required.

 

Engineering

The initial engineering reconnaissance conducted by Australian Army and Air Force personnel over the past few days is now complete and the reports from these teams has given me a clearer picture of the task ahead. The information I provide to you summarises these assessments:

 

·        Ensuring clean water is available is a key issue for the population on the ground. Defence has mobilised a water purification plant that can produce up to 200,000 litres per day of clean water. (This is the same capability the ADF deployed to Banda Aceh following the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.) While many areas are serviced by wells and people can access packaged water, access to clean water will remain under assessment. This water purification plant was deployed last night and will likely be operating by the end of today.

 

·        We are continually assessing where else we can assist Indonesian authorities and we are looking to deploy an engineering capability to Indonesia later this week. We have already deployed some engineers to assist with structural assessments of damaged infrastructure.

 

·        According to AusAID, so far, it appears that people displaced by earthquake damage have been able to find alternative accommodation. However, food and water shortages may emerge as issues into the future. We will stay attuned to this situation.

 

As you know, HMAS Kanimbla, an Amphibious Landing Platform has departed Sydney and will transit to Townsville and Darwin to load further engineering and infrastructure support capabilities. From Darwin it will take the ship four days to transit to Padang. This ship is well suited to disaster relief operations and has an impressive communications, logistics and medical capability that can ably support the Australian Joint Task Force. A Sea King helicopter flight is also embarked to support the ship and ADF operations and Kanimbla will also embark two Landing Craft Medium boats and two amphibious wheeled LARK vehicles from Townsville.

 

The total ADF commitment to Op Padang Assist is now around 500 personnel and there are more than 200 ADF personnel on the ground in Indonesia. At this point in time we are looking the operation lasting between a month to six weeks. I’ll be progressively reviewing this and providing appropriate advice to the Chief of the Defence Force.

 

Operation PADANG ASSIST is being conducted concurrently with a whole of government response to the disaster in Samoa. To date we have provided C-130 and C-17 airlift support to the Samoan government. We have assisted New Zealand with C-130 support to fly in two Iroquios helicopters as well as relief supplies and people. We have ships, aircraft and people on stand-by and we will continue to review the needs of the people of Samoa and Tonga as well as our regional partners the New Zealanders and French in providing support as it is required. For now, as the period of Samoan mourning commences, we’ll pay our respects and maintain observation of the situation.

 

I’ll end by emphasizing that despite the heavy operational demands being met by Defence in the Solomon Islands, Timor, Afghanistan and the wider Middle East as well as our United Nations commitments, Defence retains the ability to meet our regional and domestic obligations and help out when a great need arises. We can do this and we are doing this and it is a great credit to the Navy, Army and Air Force that we can respond with such willingness and agility.

 

Thank you.

 

Media contact: Defence Media Liaison: 02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664