The Air Force has sent a dozen airmen to Ecuador over the last week to help with relief efforts after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake.
The first team of eight disaster relief experts — called an airfield assessment team — arrived in Manta, Ecuador on April 22 to assess the damage done to the airfield at Eloy Alfaro International Airport, the 12th Air Force said in an April 26 email. Another four airmen arrived at Eloy Alfaro on April 26 with a mobile air traffic control tower to try to improve the airport so more humanitarian aid can enter the country.
"The airfield assessment team will be testing the capability of the runways and taxi ways to see if aircraft can land and if so, the different type [of aircraft] that can be accommodated," 12th Air Force spokeswoman Master Sgt. Kristina Newton said in an email. "They are expected to return to their home station later this week."
U.S. Southern Command also said in an April 26 release that the mobile air traffic control tower can be fully set up within 90 minutes, and "is designed to quickly establish air traffic services in austere environments to support aircraft movements in and out of airfields."
The airmen were sent at the request of the Ecuadorian government, Newton said. SOUTHCOM ordered their deployment at the request of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, which has the lead in coordinating American disaster response efforts in Ecuador.
At least 650 people were killed when the earthquake struck Ecuador's coast April 16, making it the most devastating earthquake in South America since 1999.
The Air Force once had about 450 airmen and contractors at Eloy Alfaro to run anti-narcotics airborne reconnaissance operations. But in 2008, Ecuador decided to kick the Air Force out of Eloy Alfaro, and by September 2009, the last airmen had pulled out.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
