{"id":35148,"date":"2013-11-18T12:01:23","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T12:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=d6852456fd784b69b23a59806374c5ec"},"modified":"2013-11-18T12:01:23","modified_gmt":"2013-11-18T12:01:23","slug":"news-story-raf-delivers-much-needed-jcbs-to-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=35148","title":{"rendered":"News story: RAF delivers much needed JCBs to the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The aircraft from 99 Squadron<\/a> touched down at Cebu Airport after its mammoth 25-hour trip from RAF<\/abbr> Brize Norton carrying 3 rough-terrain JCBs.<\/p>\n

British Ambassador to the Philippines, Asif Ahmad, said:<\/p>\n

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The arrival of this equipment means that the promises the British government made to the people of the Philippines have become real.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\"The<\/div>
The C-17 prepares to touch down in Singapore for a refuelling stop en route to the Philippines [Picture: Sergeant Ralph Merry ABIPP RAF<\/abbr>, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mr Ahmad stressed that although a lot of medicine and food had arrived from across the world, what was lacking was machinery to unblock roads to allow aid to get to where it is most needed.<\/p>\n

He added that red tape for the landing of the C-17<\/a> had been swept aside by the islands\u2019 head of state, President Aquino, who gave the RAF<\/abbr>\u2019s mission his personal seal of approval.<\/p>\n

Representing the president at the airfield was General Roy Deveraturda, the region\u2019s senior military commander, who thanked the RAF<\/abbr> and the British people for their contribution to the disaster relief operation.<\/p>\n

RAF<\/abbr> C-17 brings equipment to Philippines<\/a><\/p>\n

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Your country\u2019s response has been overwhelming,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will always remember these gifts with gratitude.<\/p>\n

The problems left by the typhoon will stay with us for a long time and we will continue to require a lot of resources.<\/p>\n

I cannot thank the RAF<\/abbr> and the British people enough for their efforts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The 3-star general had already earmarked 3 \u2018substantially damaged\u2019 regions \u2013 Aklan, Capiz and Iloilo \u2013 where the 3 JCBs would make a real difference.<\/p>\n

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\"One<\/div>
One of the JCBs is driven out of the C-17 [Picture: Sergeant Ralph Merry ABIPP RAF<\/abbr>, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last leg of the C-17\u2019s 3-stage trip started in Singapore where its captain, Squadron Leader David Blakemore, took off with the aircraft \u2018close to its maximum weight\u2019. <\/p>\n

He said:<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s great to provide a significant lift to the islands and the C-17 was brought in for this kind of job.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The vehicles, driven off the aircraft by Corporal Darren Pollard of the RAF<\/abbr> Wittering<\/a> motor transport section, were handed over to representatives of the UK\u2019s Department for International Development<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Its spokesperson Gemma Blackburn said:<\/p>\n

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It is incredible that we have come together with the RAF<\/abbr> for this kind of project. These vehicles are ideally suited to the logistics of aid and are the first of their kind brought in.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\"A<\/div>
A Royal Air Force driver unloads one of the ‘UK Aid’ JCBs at Cebu Airport [Picture: Sergeant Ralph Merry ABIPP RAF<\/abbr>, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The unloading of the JCBs, two Defender Land Rovers and pallets of medical supplies was done in 1-and-a-half hours by 3 airmen from No 1 Air Mobility Wing<\/a> based at RAF<\/abbr> Brize Norton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other personnel on the flight included 4 RAF<\/abbr> policemen<\/a>, a medical officer<\/a> of the Deployable Aeromedical Response Team Squadron<\/a> and an environmental health technician. Further trips by the C-17 and a C-130<\/a> have been planned.<\/p>\n

Find out more about how the UK is helping the people of the Philippines that have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/div>
All of the vehicles unloaded from the C-17 by Royal Air Force movements personnel at Cebu Airport [Picture: Sergeant Ralph Merry ABIPP RAF<\/abbr>, Crown copyright]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The RAF’s C-17 aircraft has arrived in the Philippines bringing much needed equipment to the typhoon-battered islands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}