Marines Fly in Food, Shelter Kits, Tarps to Aid Philippines After Typhoon Destroys Homes

U.S. Marines were tapped to support disaster relief efforts in the Philippines after a typhoon wrought torrential wind and rain to the country's northernmost islands last week, the service announced Saturday.

Typhoon Krathon -- known as Julian, locally -- made landfall in the country on Sept. 30, with hundreds of families evacuated and nearly 1,500 homes destroyed in the path of the northern-moving storm, the governor of one of the provinces said last week.

Two Marine Corps KC-130Js left Okinawa, Japan, and landed in Manila on Saturday to distribute tarps, shelter kits, food packets and other supplies, the service said. The Marine units involved include III Marine Expeditionary Force, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Marine Rotational Force-Southeast Asia, or MRF-SEA, which Military.com reported began an exercise in the country recently.

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The request for assistance came from the Philippine government, the announcement said, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific to aid the U.S. Agency for International Development in its relief efforts in the region.

The KC-130s belonged to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152, which departed from Okinawa. The unit is based out of Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.

The Marines are delivering supplies by air transport in coordination with regional military units as well. Military.com contacted the headquarters of the Marine Corps on Monday for details regarding how many Marines were involved in the relief effort, tonnage of support delivered and other information, but did not hear back by publication.

Stars and Stripes reported on Monday that more than two dozen Marines loaded nearly 100,000 pounds of relief support for delivery, citing the MRF-SEA commander, Col. Stuart Glenn. The publication also reported that MV-22 Ospreys were involved in the deliveries to the northern part of the country.

MRF-SEA is on its third rotation to the Philippines as part of a broader Marine Corps effort in the region. The service -- and those involved in the initial rotational concept -- signaled that this year's rotation is much more robust than previous iterations, Military.com reported.

The service said disaster relief operations are part of III MEF's repertoire. Earlier this year, III MEF worked with other government agencies to deliver nearly 60,000 pounds of aid to the southern parts of the Philippines after the country was ravaged by deadly mudslides and rain. That operation also involved two Marine KC-130s landing in the Philippines to deliver pallets of aid.

Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect that the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 departed from Okinawa and is based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. 

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