The following is the October 8 update on Joint Task Force-Matthew support to relief efforts in Haiti:
•USS Mesa Verde -- with with three embarked CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters, one landing craft, and about 700 Marines and Sailors -- continues steaming to Haiti.
•As of Oct. 8, approximately 250 Joint Task Force-Matthew personnel are on the ground in Haiti. The JTF continues supporting USAID-led assistance to ongoing international relief efforts in Haiti.
•On Oct. 7, JTF-Mathew conducted missions in Les Cayes and Jeremie.
◦In Les Cayes, task force helicopters and crews delivered 4,480 lbs of food and a generator.
◦In Jeremie, they delivered life-support supplies, including hygiene products and buckets.
•The task force also continues to support ongoing USAID assessments of the damage and needs in the regions devastated by the storm. From Naval Air Station Pensacola, a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon will continue to conduct aerial assessments of areas devastated by the storm to support disaster assessment experts on the ground in Haiti.