U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) Joint Task Force Bravo deployed four helicopters to Guatemala on Tuesday from Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras.
U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) Joint Task Force Bravo deployed four helicopters to Guatemala on Tuesday from Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras.
The helicopters and associated aircrews, which will support the ongoing disaster relief efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Agatha, will conduct aerial assessments and transport emergency relief supplies to areas impacted by the disaster.
Also, a 10-person coordination cell from SOUTHCOM’s Miami headquarters departed from Miami International Airport to Guatemala City aboard a U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft. The coordination cell joined a 30-person humanitarian assistance team in Guatemala and will augment the U.S. Military Group overseeing Defense Department assistance operations in the country.
The U.S. Navy frigate USS Underwood (FFG 36), along with two embarked helicopters, was also dispatched near Guatemala’s coast to provide aerial assistance to the ongoing emergency response efforts in the Central American nation.
The military assistance missions were directed by SOUTHCOM after the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City received a formal request for U.S. military assistance from the Guatemalan government.
The missions are being carried out in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), which oversees U.S. government assistance to foreign countries impacted by natural disasters.
SOUTHCOM previously assisted Guatemala following a similar disaster in October 2005. During that disaster, torrential rain associated with Hurricane Stan resulted in flooding and landslides that isolated entire communities in the vicinity of Lake Atitlán.