ARLINGTON, Va., - Two Missouri Air National Guard C-130 Hercules
transport aircraft with 47 crewmembers are en route to aid earthquake-ravaged
Chile today.
The 139th Airlift Wing sent the two aircraft, crews and maintenance support
personnel from Puerto Rico - where they had been supporting Southern Command
- to Santiago, Chile, on Thursday, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced in a
press release.
The wing, which is scheduled to send additional aircraft and crews to
Santiago in the coming weeks, has also supported earthquake relief efforts in
Haiti, flying personnel and supplies to Port au Prince, Missouri Guard
officials said.
"The men and women of the Missouri Air Guard are uniquely qualified to
provide emergency response, relief and recovery services, both at home and
abroad," Nixon said. "I am especially proud of the skill and professionalism
of our Air Guard units, and I know they will provide invaluable service to
the people of Chile during this time of need."
C-130 aircraft can fly human and airlift cargo long distances in all weather
conditions day and night from low to high altitudes and land in inaccessible
areas.
"The 139th Airlift Wing is again at the tip of the spear in supporting
humanitarian relief efforts," said Air Force Col. Michael McEnulty, the wing
commander. "We are always leaning forward to come to the aid of those who
have been affected by disasters, whether at home or abroad."
Missouri is one state that is acutely aware of the need for earthquake
preparedness. It sits on the New Madrid fault, named for the Missouri town
hit in 1811 and 1812 by some of the strongest earthquakes in North American
history.
The Missouri National Guard routinely trains for earthquake response and
hosts national earthquake planning workshops. At the most recent, in
September, more than 200 Guard officials and representatives of civilian
agencies from eight states discussed emergency response to a catastrophic
earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
The National Guard is uniquely qualified to respond, a Missouri University of
Science and Technology geological engineer told the workshop.
"That's because the National Guard has combat engineering familiarity and
background and in a combat situation you don't control the cards you are
dealt," David Rogers said. "The response in an emergency situation has to be
fluid and capable of changing. There is no manual for disaster response."
The National Guard has a history of responding to earthquakes that goes back
at least 100 years. And the Guard has decades of experience supporting
disaster relief operations in Central and South America.
In 1906, after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit San Francisco, California
National Guardmembers didn't even bother waiting for orders - they just
started showing up at their armories ready to assist, which the Guard did in
support of civilian agencies throughout the aftermath.
"The work done and still being done by the National Guard ... will be long
and gratefully remembered," a newspaper editorial stated. "Our present
National Guard is descended in direct official line from those citizen
soldiers that stood, yielding not, at Saratoga, Ticonderoga, Stony Point and
Yorktown, and have proved themselves worthy of their ancestors."
Earthquakes are notoriously unpredictable. Scientists debate whether even
trying to predict them is a worthwhile exercise, and the U.S. Geological
Survey's National Earthquake Information Center flatly states that they
cannot be predicted, while also noting that there is a 100 percent chance
that one will strike somewhere on the planet today.
In 1990, a New Mexico climatological consultant predicted devastation coming
to New Madrid, Mo., on Dec. 3 that year. The prediction was enough to spark
state planning, but the day came and went without incident.
As scientists try to predict where the next big earthquake is likely to
strike in the United States, the National Guard stands ready to respond,
Guard officials said.
"The National Guard has the trained personnel, the equipment and the command
and control capabilities in order to execute this mission to help provide
food, water, electricity - anything the citizens would be in need of during a
major disaster such as an earthquake," said Army Brig. Gen. Stephen Danner,
the adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard.