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Welcome to our first ‘Throwback Thursday’ feature article from a past edition of Australian Aviation. Here in this March 2008 issue story we look at the ADF’s role in providing disaster relief in the wake of PNG’s devastating Cyclone Guba.
The first major South Pacific cyclone of the 2007/08 season developed out of a tropical low in the northern Coral Sea on November 13, and went on to devastate parts of Papua New Guinea’s north-eastern coastal region around Oro Province. In the aftermath of the cyclone, ADF aircraft and personnel were dispatched to the area to deliver relief supplies to the people of Oro Province under Operation PNG Assist.
Guba, as the storm was named by the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Port Moresby, began to intensify on the morning of November 14, and alerts were subsequently issued to eastern coastal and island communities of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula. After drifting erratically around the Coral Sea for several days, Guba strengthened to a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of more than 140km/h and a barometric pressure of less than 970kPa.
Even though the cyclone remained small and slow moving, it was particularly intense on its northern flank which lashed Oro and neighbouring provinces with torrential rain and two metre high storm surges for six days before it eventually dissipated into a tropical depression on November 20.
The rain quickly swelled the rivers which flow down from the southern end of the lush Owen Stanley Ranges, knocking out bridges and roads, as well as disrupting water supplies and electricity to tens of thousands of people, more than 2000 of whom had to be evacuated. Landslides caused stands of large rainforest trees to be washed down the rivers, adding to the carnage caused by the torrents of water. At least 170 people were killed in Oro and the neighbouring Milne Bay Provinces by Cyclone Guba, while the PNG government estimated more than 145,000 people were affected by the resultant flooding and says damage to the infrastructure of the region totalled more than K200m (A$80m).
Answering the call
Late in the evening on November 21, Officer Commanding (OC) 84WG and former CO of 37SQN, GPCAPT Tim Innes was appointed to head up a joint task force to establish a relief operation to the people of Oro Province. An advance team arrived in PNG later the next day, and was followed that evening by two RAAF C-130Js from Richmond carrying medical supplies, emergency shelters and other provisions. By the morning of November 23, Operation PNG Assist had kicked into gear and the delivery of supplies was underway.
“So, a day and a half after getting the go-ahead we were delivering aid, which is a significantly rapid response,” GPCAPT Innes told Australian Aviation.
“Our main roles were to relieve human suffering. We were fully responsive to the PNG Natural Disaster Centre, and we worked closely with various NGOs in the region.”
By the afternoon of November 25, the ADF had the two C-130Js, three Caribous from 38SQN, and three Army Black Hawks in Oro Province. In addition, one of the RAAF’s new C-17s delivered 26 tonnes of supplies from Richmond to Port Moresby, and the Navy heavy landing craft HMAS Wewak was en route.
“We were mainly carrying medical items and medicines, tents and shelters, generators, toilets, food, water purification tablets, and the like,” GPCAPT Innes said. “The supplies came from the AusAID store in Sydney, and were brought out to RAAF Richmond and built up into pallets for the C-130s and C-17.”
An Army King Air was also used to provide transport for ADF, PNGDF, aid workers and PNG government officials, as well as command and control, communications, survey and observation flights, and other light duties during the relief effort.
“We quickly established that more than 70 bridges had been cut by the flood waters and that there was little or no ground transport available in Oro. In many cases, the locals could only communicate via UHF radio,” GPCAPT Innes said.
“The Oro Bay region recorded 65 fatalities from the floods – the whole area was covered in logs from trees swept down the mountains by flooding. Although the devastation wasn’t on the same scale as Banda Aceh after the tsunami, many pockets looked very similar. It was primarily water and debris damage, and in some cases the huge volumes of water actually changed the course of some rivers. It will take years to fully re-build the infrastructure.”
“Our concept was to use the Girua Airstrip near the provincial capital of Popondetta as our main base. We had the Hercs flying an air bridge over the mountains from Port Moresby to Girua, while the Caribous operated out of Tufi to the southeast, and the Black Hawks out of Lae-Nazdab up north. The Hercs would bring in avgas and avtur to Girua in 1,800 litre rubber blivets so the Caribous and Black Hawks could operate with relatively light fuel loads and thus carry more supplies.”
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Adrian P
says:This type of work is what the ADF should specialise in.
It does more to reduce refugees and terrorism than the other misadventures we sometimes get involved in.
We should be doing this type of work in Mosul, and Raqqa, repairing the desolation will improve the situation long term.
Gforgeorge
says:I am pretty sure the king air is air force, the give away being the RAAF roundel, I haven’t heard much about aid relief from the latest quake in the highlands I have gotten more info about it from NZ media. AA do you have any info on the MRH Taipan that was grounded after cyclone relief work in the Whitsundays?
Mick C
says:Gforgeorge
The King Airs where originally pperated by the Army then transfered to the RAAF as a short term replacement for the Caribous until the C27s arrived.
ButFli
says:@Gforgeorge
The roundel appeared on many ADF fixed wing aircraft, including those operated by Army and Navy. This particular aircraft wasn’t transferred to Air Force until 2009, so it was still Army for this photo.
Here is a photo showing the same aircraft with the roundel, Army’s rising sun insignia on the tail and ARMY written on the side: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beechcraft_B300_King_Air_350_A32-426.jpg
Trash Hauler
says:Yep, at the time (in 2007) the King Airs were certainly operated by the Army