Nepal earthquake: US Marines to begin operations

PUBLISHED ON MAY 2, 2015 3:17 AM

A man walks along the street near a collapsed house following Saturday's earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal May 1, 2015. US military aircraft, heavy equipment and air traffic controllers will start arriving in Nepal from Saturday as part of a US relief operation following the devastating earthquake, a senior US officer said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

KATHMANDU (REUTERS) - US military aircraft, heavy equipment and air traffic controllers will start arriving in Nepal from Saturday as part of a US relief operation following the devastating earthquake, a senior US officer said.

The 7.8 magnitude quake that struck on Saturday killed at least 6,250 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless when it destroyed parts of the capital Kathmandu and flattened villages across a wide swathe of the country.

Brigadier-General Paul Kennedy of the US Marine Corps told Reuters the six military aircraft, including two helicopters, will arrive from Saturday, accompanied by 100 marines and lifting equipment under an agreement reached with Nepal's government earlier in the week.

The US military would help manage the growing piles of relief supplies clogging Nepal's only international airport, which has struggled to distribute all the aid arriving from around the world since the earthquake.

"What you don't want to do is build up a mountain of supplies," blocking space for planes or more supplies, Kennedy said.

Kennedy's own flight on a C-130 cargo plane was close to " a fuel emergency" because it had to spend some time circling over Kathmandu after a long flight from his base in Okinawa, Japan, on Wednesday, he said.

The general said the plan was part of a long practiced earthquake response in the most populated area of Nepal.

"Nepal serves as the worst-case scenario for military planners," Kennedy said on Friday, speaking at the US Embassy in Kathmandu, in a converted dance fitness studio now decorated with maps and occupied by a team of marines working on laptops.

"It is land-locked and there are only a small number of useable airfields that will handle military sized aircraft," Kennedy said.

Experts have long predicted that a powerful earthquake in Kathmandu would kill up to 100,000 people, and injure close to a million, requiring a formidable international response. In the event, the toll was much lower.

Kennedy did not say how extensive the US presence in Nepal would grow after the initial arrival of four vertical take-off Osprey aircraft, two Bell Hueys and equipment such as forklift trucks to help move relief supplies at the airport.

Teams of soldiers carrying portable radars and including airstrip repair experts, will be sent to enable two provincial airports to receive heavy transport flights day and night.

The airports being considered to relieve the pressure on the international airport include one at trekking destination Pokhara and another near the birthplace of Buddha. "Those are the ones capable of (handling) larger aircraft,"he said.

He said the United States would not be involved in air-traffic operations at Kathmandu airport, which would raise questions of sovereignty.

"When you control the international gateway to any country, the last thing you really want to cede is the air tower, because they control who is coming and who is bringing what," he said.