Today, 4 April in the morning, a fifth shipment of European in-kind assistance was sent to Japan, composed of 26 tons of food, tents, sleeping bags, clothes, gloves and rubber boots.
The cost free flight was provided by AeroLogic, a joint venture of DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo. The plane should arrive to Tokyo Narita airport on 6 April at 07.00 local time, from where the assistance will be distributed to Miyagi prefecture. The EU Civil Protection team will coordinate the logistics.
Four other European shipments of relief items and bottled water have been sent to Japan in the past days. Lufthansa provided transport for two other shipments of assistance offered by a large number of Participating states in the European Civil Protection Mechanism, while DHL has offered to provide distribution of the goods on the ground for free.
To date, over 380 tons of relief items have been delivered to Japan by the European Civil Protection Mechanism after the disaster of 11 March.
Since the massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, the European Union has been providing coordinated assistance and ensured the prompt delivery of any help needed and requested by Japan.