GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM Navy Petty Officer Loretta Mabrey, a 1986 Campbell High School graduate, took part in the five-month deployment of Pearl Harbor public health specialists to help victims of two earthquakes in Indonesia.

Disaster teams
return home

Navy specialists end a rescue
mission to quake-torn Indonesia

Navy Petty Officer Loretta Mabrey and fellow Pearl Harbor preventive medicine specialists returned home yesterday after five months of helping 85,000 victims of two earthquakes in Indonesia.

Mabrey, a 1986 Campbell High School graduate, was part of the largest deployment of Pearl Harbor-based Navy Environment and Preventive Medicine Unit 6, one of six Navy epidemiological units. Thirty-one of the 39 doctors, dentists, epidemiologists, entomologists, industrial hygienists, lab technicians, environmental health and preventive medicine specialists left Oahu on Jan. 11 bound for Aceh, the scene of the largest number of victims from the Dec. 26 disaster.

They later joined the crew of the hospital ship USNS Mercy -- one of two Navy hospital ships operated by Military Sealift Command -- which left San Diego on Jan. 5. Mabrey was among the last seven members of her unit to return home on Memorial Day.

Mabrey said her team spent more than 40 hours spraying the different disaster areas to control pests and "to knock down mosquitoes" to curb outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever.

Other team members tested drinking water, treated bed nets and trained local teams in mosquito and insect control, said Capt. Gail Hathaway, commander of the unit.

"They tested the water supplies to make sure they were safe to use," Hathaway added.

GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM The hospital ship USNS Mercy slid into Pearl Harbor's Hotel Pier yesterday for a three-day visit.

From Feb. 26 to March 16, the medical staff from the Mercy teamed up with U.S. Public Health and other specialists from various nongovernmental organizations to treat more than 9,500 patients ashore and afloat, performing 19,512 medical procedures, including 285 surgical and operating room cases.

Rear Adm. Douglas McClain, Pacific Fleet deputy chief of staff in charge of operations, plans and policy, said the mission was nicknamed Operation U-Turn because, after completing operations off Banda Aceh, the Mercy had left Indonesia for Dili in East Timor.

But on the orders of President Bush, the Mercy and its crew were told to return to the remote Indonesian island of Nias following the March 28 earthquake, which recorded a magnitude of 8.7.

Capt. Rick Morrison, Pacific Fleet deputy surgeon, headed the advance team. His job was to coordinate the U.S. relief with nongovernmental organizations and the Indonesian government.

During the next 25 days, Mercy's medical teams performed medical procedures on the floating hospital. Pearl Harbor health specialists analyzed the water supplies on Nias and assessed the safety of 285 public buildings.

Capt. Mark Llewellyn, commanding officer of the Mercy, said, "It was a truly rewarding mission for all of us. It's hard to describe the impact of the disaster," but he was moved by the "strength of the people of Banda Aceh and Nias."

Morrison said that by the time he left Nias on April 14, "the government had started to recover. ... The schools had started to reopen."

Llewellyn said the experiences the medical teams had during the five-month relief deployment will be shared today with University of Hawaii medical school, federal public health, Red Cross and other specialists.

Between May 17-20, a team of public health specialists from the Mercy and Pearl Harbor also provided humanitarian relief in Madnag province in Papua New Guinea. More than 6,000 residents of Manam had to leave their homes after a volcanic eruption in October and were living in two camps.

The Mercy is slated to return to San Diego tomorrow.

USNS Mercy Specialty: One of the largest trauma facilities in the nation Length: 894 feet Speed: 17.5 knots Bed capacity: 1,000 Intensive care beds: 80 Operating rooms: 12 Deployment: Disaster relief and security When: Feb. 5-May 2 Where: Banda Aceh, Nias, East Timor and Papua New Guinea