20 years on, ACS reflects on the Indian Ocean tsunami relief effort

On December 26th 2004, an earthquake, measuring 9.1 on the Richter Scale struck off the coast of West Indonesia, causing a tsunami, with waves reaching up to 30 metres high. It devastated communities along the coasts of the Indian Ocean and killed approximately 228,000 people in 14 different countries, whilst displacing many more. Now, 20 years on, the team that were at the heart of Air Charter Service’s response, tell their stories, and what it was like conducting one of the longest, largest and most complex relief operations in the company’s history, in a short video. From being seconded to Whitehall to work on the British government’s response, to being on the ground amongst the devastation in Indonesia and the Maldives.

Air Charter Service’s response involved virtually every person in the cargo division of the company at the time, along with additional help from other divisions, and many of those that played a part are now senior figures at ACS. Over the course of the relief effort, which lasted several months, Air Charter Service was heavily involved, arranging more than 100 charter flights, along with daily missions on cargo helicopters.

Some of the unique challenges that ACS, and other relief organisations faced, included airports in the region without the handling capabilities required and a heavily damaged road network, meaning that onward transport was virtually impossible. Early in the operation Dan Morgan-Evans, now Group Cargo Director, was seconded to work in the British Government’s Whitehall headquarters to help coordinate their aid efforts. From there he coordinated an extensive response, including transporting a highloader to open Medan airport to larger freighters, and transporting Super Puma helicopters from Europe to operate daily missions for the UN to deliver aid to the badly hit coastal towns, that were inaccessible by road. James Leach, now ACS CMO, was on the ground in the region and was instrumental in finding a base for these helicopters on an island just north of Banda Aceh. Elsewhere in the region, Richard Thompson, now President of ACS Americas, flew to the Maldives on a flight carrying nothing but 40 tons of water. Other aid flown in included medical supplies, shelter equipment and offroad vehicles.

Ben Dinsdale, who was part of the ACS effort 20 years ago, and is now ACS’s Director of Government and Humanitarian Services, said: “We’re extremely proud of being able to respond to humanitarian disasters in this way – this work makes up a huge part of ACS’s history.”

The full video, with in depth insight into how we managed the operation, can be viewed here: