RFA Largs Bay Delivers Emergency Rations

RFA Largs Bay Delivers Emergency Rations To Isolated Fishing Village Of Anse A Veau

Following the successful cargo operations in Port au Prince and Gonaives on behalf of DfiD and the World Food Programme, RFA Largs Bay has been given the vital task of distributing emergency food aid to the remote village of Anse a Veau some 60 miles West of Port au Prince. Anse a Veau has been completely cut off following the massive earthquake and localised flooding and has for the last 6 weeks, survived solely on occasional Air drops from the World Food Programme.  The cargo which includes 275, 000 ready meals, 31.5T of Rice, 6.5T of beans, 210 Boxes of Corn Soya Blend, 114 Boxes of Vegetable oil and 13 bags of salt will be enough to feed the surrounding community of 5500 for a month.
 
Father David Fontaine, the parish priest explained how important the food is to his parishioners.

‘‘This food has come at a vital time as we have almost run out. We have a very poor community that has grown significantly since the earthquake as families have fled Port Au Prince to join their relatives. The community has almost doubled in size since the disaster and the strain on the poor has been the greatest. The villagers are very proud and refuse to ask for food but through the church we will store and organise the distribution starting with those that need it most.’’

World Food Programme project manager, Jonathan Thompson said,

‘‘It is fantastic to see the community coming together to help unload these vital stores. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary Ship Largs Bay is just perfect for our needs and is the only credible way of distributing significant tonnage of aid to this remote area. I think that the locals have been blown away by the arrival of the ship and this will be talked about for years to come.’’

Normally the loading and discharge of cargo is solely down to the soldiers of the 17 Port and Maritime Regiment, Royal Logistics Corps but in Anse a Veau it is all hands to the pumps. Volunteers from the ships company have been landed to assist and spread out with the locals to form chains to get the boxes ashore. Unable to reach the shore as the bay is so shallow, villagers and servicemen waded out to the Largs Bay MEXE Raft to collect food.

Commanding Officer, Captain Ian Johnson said,

‘‘This is why we came to Haiti. It is so rewarding for all the team to be able to get involved and help with the unloading of the cargo and be able to deliver to those that are so cut off from the rest of Haiti. Conventional ships would be unable to do this task, the bay is too shallow for even small ships to get in and the coastal approaches are too deep to anchor..RFA Largs Bay has the capability to automatically maintain a fixed position using computer controlled thrusters and still conduct operations with a MEXE raft through the ships dock.It is this niche capability which has made us perfect for working with the World Food Programme.’’ 

The discharge of cargo is likely to take 4 days.

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