Sir, - I am trying to give exposure to a method of bringing immediate and certain food aid to areas which, due to civil strife or natural calamity, are not accessible by land transport. Examples of recent cases in which such aid should have been applied are Ethiopia, Somalia, Bangladesh and Yugoslavia amongst others and now, most obviously, Rwanda/Zaire.
The method I am advocating involves air-dropping 50-gramme food sachets which, because of their light weight, can be allowed to fall amongst the recipient people without danger to them. Depending on the height of drop, a wide scalter pattern would result in people moving away from the centre of the drop zone, making it easier for the less strong to help themselves.
Three to five sachets, daily per person depending on age, are enough to sustain life indefinitely. Thus, allowing for wastage of about 20 per cent, a daily airdrop of ten tons is enough to feed 40,000 people. Hercules transport planes carry approximately 25 tons and on the basis of two flights. a day, one plane and crew can look after the needs of 200,000 refugees.
This is a small logistical task if one compares it to the normal relief convoys, travelling on poor roads and needing to be protected from armed looters by UN troops, whose presence often takes weeks to organise. The present scene in Rwanda is a standard example. - Yours, etc.,
The Crescent, Lucan, Co Dublin.