MAF disaster response staff are on the ground in St. Maarten, an island nation in the Caribbean that has been devastated by Hurricane Irma. They are assessing the situation to determine how MAF can use its aviation and communication services to best help those in need. An airplane from MAF-Suriname is headed to St. Maarten to join the relief efforts aiding islands in the area.

This morning the MAF team in Haiti completed an aerial survey over the northern part of the country, which was hardest hit by Hurricane Irma. Although they observed water in some fields and other places it shouldn’t have been, the team saw little damage.

KUTACANE, Indonesia — A massive mudslide occurred on Wednesday, April 12, at 6:00 a.m. in the district of Kutacane on the island of Sumatra, about a 1.5 hour flight from Banda Aceh, where an MAF base is located.

MAF’s Aceh program conducted a flight for a group from Banda Aceh that is aiming to provide temporary shelters as well as a kitchen in order to feed people who have evacuated their homes. This NGO is doing assessments to determine how they can recruit workers to help the people of Kutacane.

It has been another busy day for the team as many NGOs and relief works are trying to identify where to target their work following yesterday’s second earthquakes. The team have received stories that there are many remote communities who had not yet received aid following the first earthquake – and now have been hit again. The need for the helicopter service increases every day and since the facility started last weekend the helicopter teams have been taking off or landing on average every 18 minutes, during the 10-hour daylight operational window they can work in.

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has begun providing helicopter transportation to remote areas of Nepal hard-hit by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred on April 25. MAF is also assisting authorities and relief agencies at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu with ramp management and planning, cargo handling, warehousing logistics and coordination.