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In the presence of disaster
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RAAF
Sergeant George Sweeney (right) directs Cpl Michelle Murphy, who
is driving a Truck Aircraft Side-Loading/Unloading (TASLU) during
the unloading of an RAAF Boeing 707 jet transport aircraft at
the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Butterworth, Northwest Malaysia.
Sergeant Sweeney was sent from his normal workplace at RAAF Williamtown
in NSW to assist with the movement of aid supplies following the
Boxing Day tsunami.
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RAAF
personnel rush mobile steps to an RAAF 707 jet transport aircraft,
which has arrived with emergency personnel and supplies at the
Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Butterworth, Northwest Malaysia,
during Operation Sumatra Assist. Visible from right: Leading Aircraft
Woman Cheryl Philips, Corporal Kathy Steel and Leading Aircraftman
Steve Edwards.
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Personnel
assigned to 324 Combat Support Squadron, Butterworth, Malaysia,
prepare to marshal an arriving RAAF Boeing 707 aircraft loaded
with aid supplies and personnel bound for Aceh. From left: Sergeant
George Sweeney, Leading Aircraft Woman Cheryl Phillips and Sergeant
Jason D'Castro.
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Squadron
Leader Steve Laredo (right), Executive Officer of 324 Combat Support
Squadron, discusses operational matters with Mrs Fatmawati Aziz,
a locally employed civilian at the RAAF's logistic facility at
the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Butterworth, Northwest Malaysia.
The squadron relies heavily on its civilian employees, who have
volunteered to return from leave and work extra hours to help
with Operation Sumatra Assist.
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By
Corporal Cameron Jamieson - filed 1 February 2005
For many
Australians the saga of the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami were events
that unfolded on the television screen.
For members of 324 Combat Support Squadron (CSS) in Butterworth they
were events they lived through.
Squadron Leader Steve Laredo, XO 324 CSS, said many members of the squadron
experienced the violence of the earthquake and saw the tsunami hit Penang
Island because of the nature of their accommodation.
"About two-thirds of our personnel live in high-rise apartments
on Penang Island in the Georgetown area," he said.
"At about nine o'clock everyone in the higher levels of these buildings
was shaken - the 26th to 37th storeys moved quite dramatically.
"This forced an evacuation of people into the adjacent areas until
the all-clear was given.
"Most people were able to go back home by 9.30 am, and then we
started getting news reports of the earthquake and tsunami damage that
had occurred in Thailand."
The decision was made to check that the members of 324 CSS were unharmed
by the earthquake, but early that afternoon their work was interrupted
by a far more deadly event.
"At about 1.30 pm the people living in the high-rise apartments
actually saw the tsunami starting to move through the Straights of Malacca
and down into Penang harbour," SQNLDR Laredo said.
"Around 2 pm the waves hit the beachfront areas around Batu Ferringhi."
Sixty-eight Malaysians lost their lives in the disaster, with most deaths
recorded in Penang.
The telephone work to contact squadron members and their families began
again in earnest, and by about 4 pm most had been located.
But two people were missing - Sergeant Daniel "Harry" Butler
and his wife Ronda were on a diving holiday in Khao Lak, on the west
coast of Thailand, and the area had been hit hard by the tsunami.
Harry was located and contacted within a few days, but his wife Ronda
is still missing - a devastating loss to both the Butler family and
the close community of 324 CSS.
While everything possible was being done to assist Sgt Butler, the squadron
also started contingency planning for the expected Australian humanitarian
response to the disaster.
"We started on Monday morning, December 27, at 8 am with a meeting
at the CO's house," SQNLDR Laredo said.
"We recalled everyone on local leave, including our locally employed
staff, and we had personnel prepared by 10 am to proceed to Thailand,
because initially the reports coming through were Thailand-focused,
with very little coming out of Indonesia."
But as the reality of the situation in Indonesia emerged, Australia's
response became focused on helping the Indonesians in the province of
Aceh, and by New Years' Day the members of 324 CSS knew Butterworth
would be a major logistics hub for Operation Sumatra Assist.
While Army's Rifle Company in Butterworth immediately placed their manpower
at the disposal of 324 CSS, the need for additional air operations specialists
meant that a call for augmentees was issued so the squadron could meet
the challenges of the operation.
"324 CSS is a very small unit, with a permanent uniformed staff
of about 35, and we needed to be augmented by 110 per cent to make it
work," SQNLDR Laredo said.
"We've had to bring up air terminal staff, cooks, security police,
communicators, maintainers and tanker drivers.
"These people have come here focused and determined to get the
job done.
"They have excelled in their tasks."
Also key to the success of the squadron's operations has been the response
of the Malaysians.
"They have supported us without hesitation," SQNLDR Laredo
said.
"They have offered us working space and living accommodation, helping
us in everyway they can."
SQNLDR Laredo said the respect between the Malaysians and Australians
was mutual.
"The Malaysians have been directly affected by this disaster,"
he said.
"As members of the community we feel for their loss of life too."
SQNLDR Laredo has nothing but admiration for the military members and
the locally employed civilians of the squadron who rose to the challenges
demanded by Operation Sumatra Assist.
"Everyone has been focused, in part because we have been involved
in this from nine o'clock on Boxing Day," he said.
"Everyone came to work willingly - people returned from leave,
they came in the middle of their removal, and others had their postings
frozen.
"The camaraderie and the support that the squadron and the other
units here have shared have been fantastic.
"For the first few weeks the people here were operating on a 14-hour
day, and their off-time was punctuated by phone calls.
"The personnel here have conducted themselves fantastically."
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