FISC Yokosuka Unveils Pre-staged Humanitarian Assistance for Storm Victims

[Navy for Moms Admin]

091005-N-9123L-007 PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 5, 2009) Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85) heave around a line during a replenishment at sea with the Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO-193). McCampbell is one of seven Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers assigned to Destroyer Squadron 15, forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Byron C. Linder/Released)


Release Date: 10/8/2009 4:17:00 AM
By H. Sam Samuelson, Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Yokosuka Public Affairs

YOKOSUKA, JAPAN (NNS) -- As a lethal string of storms and natural disasters sweep across the Western Pacific, thousands of pre-positioned Foreign Humanitarian Assistance (FHA) supplies are readied by U.S. Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Yokosuka for delivery to ships already speeding to distant disaster areas.

FISC Yokosuka supports a theater-wide plan to pre-stage and distribute disaster relief aid in anticipation of disasters such as those troubling the Western Pacific region today.

A key hub for disaster relief aid is FISC Yokosuka's Detachment Singapore.

As this season's natural disasters mounted, FISC Yokosuka Detachment Singapore initiated an audit and assembly of a full compliment of disaster aid supplies, readying them for delivery to Navy ships and aircraft operating in the area.

"We were ready for anything and everything," said FISC Yokosuka Detachment Singapore's Logistics Support Representative Rodolfo "Rey" Ranada. "These disasters can happen anytime, so we assume they will, and we prepare for them. We stay up as late into the night as we need to get these supplies ready."

Following the most recent storms, earthquakes and landslides here in the Western Pacific, humanitarian supplies were staged and prepped for loading aboard the combat support ship USNS San Jose (T AFS 7), fleet replenishment oiler USNS Walter S. Diehl (T AO 193), and aircraft from a P-3 squadron out of Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

FISC Detachment Singapore will facilitate loading the disaster aid aboard Walter S. Diehl and San Jose in Singapore. Then, each will rendezvous with either USS Denver (LPD 9) or USS McCampbell (DDG 85), already en route to disaster sites in Indonesia.

"During transit, they'll perform a replenishment at sea – from the [combat logistic force] ships (Diehl and San Jose) – to Denver and McCampbell," Ranada said. With the "hand-off" completed, Denver and McCampbell will peel off and continue toward disaster areas.

Thousands of disaster supplies were inventoried and readied for delivery, Ranada said. They include: almost 4,000 20-gallon standard plastic Jerry Cans, almost 2,000 more collapsible water containers, 2,500 blankets, 1,200 blue poly tarps, and hundreds of cases of insect repellent and sun screen.

"We're also prepared if needed to conduct market research of the local economy for additional supply aid if necessary," Ranada said. "This is an important and, we hope, life-saving effort; humanitarian assistance always is. So, we do the best we can.

"I have family who were just flooded out in the Philippines, so I know how valuable this is to storm and mud slide victims. In the FISC world, there really is no 'aftermath' just more preparation for the next disaster," Ranada said.

U.S Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Yokosuka supports National Defense Strategies by providing around the clock logistics solutions for Navy, Marine Corps, Joint and Allied Forces operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations.

FISC Yokosuka, one of seven supply centers under Commander, Fleet and Industrial Supply Centers (COMFISCS), is the Western Pacific region's largest Navy logistics command, includes more than 20 detachments, fuel terminals and sites from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to Guam, from Misawa, Japan to Sydney, Australia.

COMFISCS comprises more than 6,400 military and civilian logistics professionals operating as a single cohesive team providing global logistics services from more than 200 locations worldwide. A component of the Naval Supply Systems Command, headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa., COMFISCS is part of a worldwide logistics network of more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel providing combat capability through logistics.

For more news from U.S. Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Yokosuka, visit www.navy.mil/local/fiscyokosu

[Navy for Moms Admin]

Note: I've posted another article today that discusses the involvement of the USS Denver and USS McCampbell. You can read it here.