OREANDA-NEWS. November 21, 2011. Volga-Dnepr Airlines joined the relief operation to help earthquake victims in Turkey with two flights from Sharjah, UAE delivering urgently-needed equipment on behalf of the United Nations.

The first IL-76TD-90VD freighter flight delivered 36 tons of tents and blankets to Erzurum, the capital and largest city of the Erzurum region. The flight was conducted on behalf of the Office of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees, Hungary.

Twenty-four hours later, the second IL-76TD-90VD operation delivered a further 30 tons of tents to Erzurum to protect victims of the disaster from the cold weather conditions. The flight was at the request of the United Nations’ World Food Programme. Both charters were organized through leading aviation brokers.

Volga-Dnepr’s Sales Director, Dmitry Grishin, said: “Taking into account the scale of the disaster, we had to organise transportation of the relief cargo within the shortest time possible and we were once again able to meet this challenge. Volga-Dnepr Airlines has over 20 years experience of working with customers and partners to respond quickly in the aftermath of natural disasters like the one witnessed in Turkey. People’s lives are at stake so a fast and reliable logistics response is critical.

“Once again, the new generation IL-76TD-90VD cargo aircraft proved its unique capability in supporting such an operation. With ICAO approval for global air operations, it has no geographic restrictions and is therefore able to perform a broad spectrum of air logistics tasks in the most operationally and cost efficient way.”

Turkish authorities confirmed the 7.2-magnitude quake shattered at least 2,200 buildings and claimed over 500 lives.