Agency Struggles to Ship Quake Aid to Turkey

A local relief organization waited for word Sunday on whether an Air Force cargo plane would be available to deliver 40 tons of emergency supplies to victims of Turkey’s massive quake while Turkish Americans in Orange County met to exchange information and raise money for relief efforts.

Officials from Operation USA are expected to learn today whether the U.S. Air Force will provide a C-5 cargo plane to haul the emergency medical supplies from a Wilmington warehouse to quake victims in Turkey.

Without the Air Force plane, relief officials say, their only alternative is to truck the supplies to Chicago and fly them to Turkey on a commercial plane--delaying the supplies by up to four days.

“We’ve had a real problem trying to get air transportation,” said Richard Walden, president of Operation USA, a relief organization that has provided emergency supplies for foreign disasters for 20 years.

Meanwhile, about 75 Turkish Americans met in Costa Mesa on Sunday to trade updates and rumors from home in the wake of last week’s devastating earthquake.

The group raised about $30,000 through the weekend, with more donations expected over the next few weeks, said relief organizers from the American-Turkish Assn. of Southern California.

“Our worst nightmares have become reality,” said Hayret Yalav, the Turkish consul general in Los Angeles.

The relief supplies in the Wilmington warehouse include surgical devices, gurneys, clinical supplies and plastic sheeting for shelters. Most of the supplies were donated by an American health care organization, Walden said.

“This stuff is not readily available in Turkey,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is leading the American relief effort, said government officials are trying to make arrangements for a cargo plane. She said medical experts must first inspect the medical relief supplies to ensure that they can be used by Turkish doctors and nurses.

The delay in getting the supplies to Turkey is reminiscent of efforts last year to haul tons of clothes, water and other supplies to Central America for victims of Hurricane Mitch. The supplies had piled up in Los Angeles warehouses because there were no funds to pay for the shipping.

Because of such problems, government officials say, cash contributions to relief organizations can more readily help purchase supplies available in Turkey or neighboring countries.

A list of relief organizations approved by the federal government is available by calling (800) 872-4373 or on the World Wide Web at www.info.usaid.gov.