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 Kentucky Airman helps establish first air coordination cell in Pakistan By Staff Sgt. Kali Gradishar,  U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs
 CHAKLALA AIR BASE, Pakistan - A number of  Pakistan, U.S. and international organizations, both military and civilian,  gathered here Aug. 28 to form an air coordination cell aimed at streamlining  air operations supporting Pakistan’s flood relief efforts. “There are a considerable amount of organizations  [helping with flood relief in Pakistan],” said Travis Betz, a logistics officer  on the U.S. Agency for International Development Disaster Assistance Response  Team who assisted in bringing together the United Nations “logistics cluster  and government of Pakistan and the U.S. military [to] have a coordinated air  planning session.” The meeting was chaired by the commander of the Pakistan  Army Aviation Command with representatives from U.N. Logistics Cluster, World  Food Program, U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of the Defense  Representative Pakistan and representatives from Air Force Central Command.  Also present were representatives from the Pakistan army and air force and  Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority. “The biggest success we’ve had ... is the consolidation of  the air coordination cell here,” said U.S. Air Force Col. Greg Nelson,  directory of mobility forces for humanitarian assistance. After torrential rains pounded the country and a surge of  water jetted through towns and villages, many were left without food, water,  shelter and other basic necessities. The Pakistan Air Force’s Central Flood  Relief Cell stood up at Chaklala AFB to direct relief toward areas most in  need, but there was still a communication gap between the many involved  nations’ militaries, governments and international organizations. “Coordination up to the merging or forming of the air  coordination cell has been fragmented,” said Nelson, deployed from the 123rd  Airlift Wing, Kentucky Air National Guard. “The lead civilian agency is the  National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan ... They have received support  and commodities from all over the world, but it’s just individual nations to  them. Until we formed this coordination cell, the [various entities] weren’t  able to merge together and bring that requirements and commodities picture to  an organized air flow capability.” The purpose of the air coordination cell meeting was to  discuss available food and supplies, requirements in flooded areas throughout  Pakistan and means for transporting the items throughout the country. It was  also necessary within the meeting to facilitate communication between the  countries and agencies involved and to better accommodate the many donations,  air assets and collaborators. “The main focus has been to find ... what the requirements  are throughout the country during this flood disaster, and then we prioritize –  find out what resources we have in terms of the commodities, whether it’s food,  medical supplies, shelter,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Eliot Evans, Office of the  Defense Representative Pakistan. “Then we have an air coordination planning meeting  to coordinate what aircraft are available [and] what our capacity is to move  the supplies that we need to. “It’s critically important for the flow of information so  that all organizations ... are led by the Pakistan government, by the National  Disaster Management Authority,” added the colonel, deployed from the Virginia  Air National Guard. “It’s critical that this gives transparency to the flow if  the humanitarian assistance relief goods, and it also helps in the  communication to make sure that we prioritize what areas are most in need - so  that we can get those supplies distributed as soon as possible to the areas  that are most affected.” Besides enhanced communication, the creation of the air  coordination cell also provides the opportunity for a planning process that  looks further into the future than the one-day-in-advance effort the relief  cell had previously been putting forth. Up until the establishment of the air coordination cell,  the requirement for various commodities was passed on to the air cell to  develop an “air flow plan immediately for the next 24 hours,” said Nelson. “Now  we’re starting to look at a week out.” Getting lead representatives from each entity was not an  easy task, but the change will likely be beneficial for relief operations now  and in the near future. “It took a while to get it together, but this will really  increase the efficiency of air delivery of the needs across the country of  Pakistan,” Nelson stated. “But it’s all in support of the government of  Pakistan through the NDMA, and this cell puts the whole thing together.”
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