Defense Logistics Agency Supports Hurricane Gustav Relief Efforts

FORT BELVOIR, Va., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As local, state and
federal agencies took steps to support the nearly two million residents
fleeing the path of Hurricane Gustav this weekend, Defense Logistics Agency
employees were busy getting food, fuel and health kits to staging areas
determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

DLA met FEMA's request for humanitarian support by providing 2.33 million
Meals, Ready to Eat and nearly 1,000 health kits. More than 130,000 of the
meals went to National Guard members activated to assist local authorities
with security efforts. And each health kit provided by DLA was packed with
enough supplies to support 10 people for 30 days.

The Defense Energy Support Center also sent 15,000 gallons of ultra-low sulfur
diesel and 5,300 gallons of unleaded gasoline to a FEMA staging area in
Carville, La.

Interagency coordination with such agencies as FEMA and the U.S. Northern
Command began as early as last Wednesday, according to Air Force Maj. Felix
Cruz-Montanez, an operations officer for DLA's Joint Logistics Operations
Center at Fort Belvoir, Va.

"We alerted our field activities early on that there would be a potential for
extended operations, that we might have to provide support for Gustav," he
said.

Through an interagency agreement with FEMA, DLA provides commodities needed
for humanitarian assistance both in the United States and overseas. FEMA
requests are first given to DLA's JLOC, which forwards them to supply centers.

"FEMA tells us what they need, where and on what date. We then send that
information to the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia and the Defense
Distribution Center at the same time so they can start making preparations,"
said Cruz-Montanez.

FEMA preorders MREs from DLA each year, and DLA stores them at distribution
centers throughout the country until needed.

"In this instance, we shipped a lot of MREs from our facilities in Kansas
City, Mo., and Albany, Ga.," said Cruz-Montanez. "We sent most of them to
logistics staging areas or FEMA warehouses near the action so FEMA could move
them out quickly."

The JLOC sprung into 24/7 operations on Saturday. In addition to providing
MREs, fuel and health kits, the JLOC staff answered requests for information
on tents, cots, blankets, additional health and comfort packs, and mortuary
affairs items.

"A lot of these information requests were just so we'd know what was in stock
in case more support was needed," he said.

Gustav was this season's strongest hurricane to hit the United States. The
next major hurricane -- Hanna -- is expected to hit the United States by
week's end.

"We're already watching that one. A lot of what we'll provide depends on the
strength of the hurricane," said Cruz-Montanez, stressing that DLA's support
goes to victims as well as members of task forces providing emergency and
recovery operations.

DLA provides supply support, and technical and logistics services to the U.S.
military services and several federal civilian agencies. Headquartered at Fort
Belvoir, Va., the agency is the one source for nearly every consumable item,
whether for combat readiness, emergency preparedness or day-to-day operations.
More information about DLA is available at www.dla.mil.

SOURCE Defense Logistics Agency

DLA Public Affairs, +1-703-767-6200, DLAPublicAffairs@dla.mil