GENEVA, Switzerland, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The top UN agency overseeing the global response to the Asian tsunami crisis called Tuesday on donor countries to provide more cargo aircraft, helicopters, trucks, and heavy equipment, to help deal with the logistics bottlenecks impeding the distribution of aid.
"We absolutely need more C-17's, at least three or four for up to one month," Isabelle de Muyser-Boucher, logistics officer with the UN's Geneva Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters.
She said other priorities are helicopters, -- particularly in Indonesia -- three air traffic control units, 150 trucks (capacity 10-15 MT) for Indonesia, and 100 for Sri Lanka, and about 100 boats and landing craft, to reach remote areas.
More water treatment units, generators, and deployment kits for individuals, are also needed, OCHA said.
The disaster has already claimed over 150,000 lives, injured more than 500,000 and left millions homeless, and nearly 18,000 are still missing.
Vivina Belmonte, a spokeswoman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF,) said the agency believes "one and a half million children have been affected by the disaster," which does not include fatality figures.
But officials expect the number of victims to continue to increase as relief workers gradually reach still devastated isolated areas.
Muyser-Boucher said the C-17 cargo aircraft can haul up to 60 tons and can land on short runways. But added that only the U.S. and the United Kingdom have these.
Asked if the C-17's had been requested, Muyser-Boucher said "its up to governments to respond to this."
The UK has made available one C-17 to help fly fuel storage and handling units from Brindisi, Italy to the affected areas, and Australia has provided 4 C-130 Hercules aircraft, UN officials said.
On Jan. 3, U.S. Brigadier-General John Allen, principal director of Asia-Pacific affairs, told reporters in Washington the U.S. airforce has sent 17 C -130 cargo planes in the region, which had already hauled 430,00 pounds of relief supplies.
He said strategic airlift, C -17s, C-5s, "are also bringing in needed supplies."
The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group which is also deployed in the region is supporting humanitarian relief operations with 19 helicopters, and another strike group led by USS Bonhomme Richard, will add a further 24 helicopters, General Allen said.
Muyser-Boucher said a major problem in Indonesia is the limited capacity of airfields such as Banda-Aceh, and the large number of damaged roads. In light of the logistics congestion, as of Tuesday, the UN's major international air hub for the UN will be based in Subang -- Kuala Lumpur's former international airport, said Muyser-Boucher.
She said all international aid would be flown there and smaller aircraft would carry them to Banda-Aceh and other locations.
"Subang has excellent handling equipment, the structure is there," said Ingrid Nordstrom-Ho, acting chief of OCHA military and civil defense unit.
However, if that's not sufficient, Singapore has offered the use of an air base for -- additional support, the UN officials said.
A Singaporean diplomat confirmed the Island State had made the offer to senior management in the UN secretary general's office "to compliment other co-ordination efforts."
The facilities offered include Paya Lebar air base and Changi Naval base, the Singaporean official said.
Nordstrom-Ho said on the logistics side there were lots of assets in the region, in particular military, and said the UN's military-civil defense arm was cooperating in operations in Bangkok together with the U.S. Joint Task Force.
She said the U.S. military had received approval to treat nationals of any nation on their ships, airplanes, and helicopters.
Elisabeth Byrs, OCHA spokeswoman, said lack of warehouses was also a major logistical problem.
Nevertheless, despite the bottlenecks, supplies were getting through with the U.S. military playing a crucial role in the distribution chain.
Niurka Pineiro, spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told a news briefing Tuesday the agency was loading 40 tons of food and other materials in Medan donated by the humanitarian groups Doctors without borders (MSF) and Switzerland "onto U.S. helicopters for delivery to remote areas."
In addition, said Pineiro, a convoy of 30 trucks carrying rice, water biscuits and milk also left Tuesday morning from Medan for Banda-Aceh, the provincial capital of the heavily affected province.
Moreover, a team of logistics and medical staff in Banda-Aceh, the IOM official said, are also facilitating the trans-shipment of materials hauled in by road "onto helicopters for delivery to remote areas cut off by the tsunami."
IOM interpreters and medical staff have also joined U.S. helicopter crews airlifting injured people out of coastal areas to hospitals in Banda Aceh, she said.
The business community was also assisting the effort, UN officials noted.
Indeed, the Swedish telecom group Ericsson has announced it will provide 1,000 satellites for humanitarian purposes. And major freight forwarding groups such as DHL and TNT have also provided facilities free of charge.
Ron Redmond, spokesman for the world refugee agency, UNHCR, told reporters the agency "very much appreciates "the assistance provided by DHL.
The freight forwarder provided warehouse space -- for UNHCR's emergency non-food supplies -- at Jakarta's congested airport, and TNT trucks to ferry supplies from Medan to Banda-Aceh.
The agency was also providing portable warehouses, he said, to boost capacity.
Along the devastated in the remote west coast of Sumatra, Redmond said the UNHCR, is "looking at the possibility of using both helicopters and barges," to provide shelter materials.
Simon Pluess, information officer with the World Food Program (WFP) said a ship destined for Bangladesh with 12,500 tons of rice -- donated by Japan --had been redirected to Medan.
He said TNT was putting 20 trucks to ferry food supplies into Aceh, along with helicopters from private companies.
The Australian army, and also the U.S., he said, "were putting helicopters at our disposal," especially to reach western parts of Sumatra which are very difficult to access.
Pluess said the Australian Navy had taken food to some of the isolated islands off the West Coast of Sumatra, and added: "we have to increase these operations."
With regards to Sri Lanka, he said the agency by the end of the week would have delivered about 5,000 tons of food enough for about 750,000 people.
Finally, Byrs said the amount of tsunami relief funds pledged so far to the UN had reached about $1.52 billion.
Kofi Annan, UN secretary general, is expected to launch a UN regional flash appeal on Jan. 6 in Jakarta when he attends the summit on the disaster convened by the Indonesian government.
In a follow-up, ministers are also slated to attend UN donors meeting in Geneva on Jan. 11 on the Tsunami affected communities.
