WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL AIRDROPS IN EAST TIMOR

Press Release
WFP/1053

WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL AIRDROPS IN EAST TIMOR

ROME, 17 September (WFP) – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said that the first humanitarian airdrops were completed successfully in East Timor today, with the delivery of desperately needed food and blankets to tens of thousands of people hiding in the mountains from political violence.

Two C-130 cargo planes lent to the WFP by the Australian defence force left Darwin earlier today and performed airdrops in three locations in East Timor. This was the first humanitarian assistance to reach these East Timorese since they fled into the mountains right after the 30 August referendum on independence.

The Australian Government donated the rice, some 15 tons or enough for 30,000 people for one day. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) donated the blankets.

“We are very pleased that we have finally been able to start food deliveries to East Timor”, said Judith Cheng-Hopkins, WFP Director for Asia. “We knew that there were at least 50,000 people in an extremely vulnerable state form more than a week of foraging for food and sleeping in very cold temperatures without adequate covering”.

The WFP, the world’s largest food aid agency, which supervises the Darwin-based logistics operations for East Timor, plans to continue air drops, with rice and ready-to-eat meals donated by the United States which are due to arrive in Darwin early tomorrow.

The East Timor drops are taking place in accordance with WFP’s strict safety conditions of a clearly marked “drop zone” where a ground team is in place with the means to communicate with the aircraft during the operation.

The WFP also plans to execute next week the first ever “snow Drop” delivery of food, a unique air delivery system developed by the United Nations food aid agency in conjunction with a private aviation company, Safair Private Ltd., and United Kingdom- based Fortified Foods.

The WFP has deployed a Hercules C-130 to drop 350,000 plastic 200- gram packets of high-energy biscuits, which are packed in such a way that they float and circle as they fall to ensure a soft landing.

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It is a less dangerous operation than the conventional airdrop and does not require a special drop zone.

The “snow drop” will be available for East Timor as early as Monday, and the C-130 will be used for conventional food drops as well.

The WFP has just launched a $5.6 million emergency operation for East Timor, to start as soon as security conditions permit. The aid agency will give a food “basket” of maize, high-energy biscuits, vegetable oil and pulses to 150,000 of the most vulnerable people for two months. At the same time, the agency will conduct as assessment of food needs in the province in order to prepare a subsequent six-month plan for a larger number of people.

The East Timor operation will be run out of an $8 million logistics programme for East Timor based on a joint logistics cell in Darwin which will co-ordinate the storage and movement of humanitarian aid, two helicopters for rapid-response food deliveries and an “air bridge” for all relief workers in the region.

For more information please contact: Trevor Rowe—-Spokesman, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39-6 6513-2602; Brenda Barton—-Regional Information Officer/WFP Nairobi, Tel. +254-2-622594; Christiane Berthiaume—-WFP Information Officer/WFP Geneva, Tel. +41-22-9799564; Abby Spring—-WFP Information Officer/WFP New York, Tel. +1-212-963-5196.

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