Twenty years on from the Tsunami that devastated communities in the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004, UK-based broker Air Charter Service has released a short video on one of the longest, largest and most complex relief operations in its history.
The response involved virtually every person in the cargo division of the company at the time, along with other divisions, and many of those that played a part are now senior figures at ACS. Over the course of the relief effort, which lasted several months, it arranged over 100 charter flights, along with daily missions on cargo helicopters.
Some of the unique challenges that ACS, and other relief organisations faced, included a lacking of handling facilities at airports in the region and a badly damaged road network, making onward transport virtually impossible.
Early in the operation Dan Morgan-Evans, now group cargo director, was seconded to work in the British Government’s Whitehall headquarters to help coordinate aid efforts. From there he coordinated an extensive response, including transporting a highloader to open Medan airport to larger freighters, and transporting Super Puma helicopters from Europe to operate daily missions for the UN to deliver aid to the badly hit coastal towns, that were inaccessible by road.
James Leach, now chief marketing officer, was on the ground in the region and was instrumental in finding a base for the helicopters on an island just north of Banda Aceh. Elsewhere in the region, Richard Thompson, now president of ACS Americas, flew to the Maldives on a flight carrying nothing but 40 tons of water. Other aid flown in included medical supplies, shelter equipment and offroad vehicles.
Ben Dinsdale, who was part of the ACS effort 20 years ago, and is now ACS’s director of government and humanitarian services, said: “We’re extremely proud of being able to respond to humanitarian disasters in this way – this work makes up a huge part of ACS’s history.”
Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004 | ACS Humanitarian Response Retrospective