a025  0109  10 Dec 88
PM-US Quake Aid, Bjt,0926
US Sends Plane To Stricken Armenia With Relief Supplies
By BRYAN BRUMLEY
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - A team of 27 American disaster relief specialists
left for earthquake-stricken Soviet Armenia early this morning with a
planeload of supplies and eight dogs trained to find live victims in
the rubble.
    ''This is a special opportunity for us to reach out and work with
the Soviet Union,'' said Julia Taft, head of the Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance of the State Department's Agency for
International Development.
    Mrs. Taft was head of a team that included nine doctors, among them
Robert Gale, the Los Angeles physician who helped treat victims of
the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union.
    Team members boarded a heavily loaded chartered 727 at Dulles
International Airport at 3:07 a.m. EST and were scheduled to refuel
in Newfoundland and Ireland before heading directly to Yerevan, the
capital of Soviet Armenia.
    The team members, most of them veterans of major disaster relief
efforts, expressed little fear of entering an unfamiliar corner of
the world where tens of thousands of people have perished in one of
the worst earthquakes of the century.
    ''I have experience with disasters, experience with Soviet
disasters,'' said Gale, predicting that political complications in
Armenia would be less than those surrounding Chernobyl, which
involved the partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor.
    ''I feel pretty confident that we know what we are getting into.
Training is the key to the whole thing,'' said Steve McConaughy, a
member of the canine team along with his wife, Carol. The couple is
from Brookeville, Md., and the pair are going to Armenia with their
black Newfoundland dogs, Ebony and Shasta.
    The American party included Louise Simone, executive vice president
of the Armenian General Benevolent Fund based in Saddle Brook, N.J.,
and two doctors affiliated with the charitable society, Garo
Tertzakian and Vartkes Najarian, both of Los Angeles.
    ''For us, this is a long-term prospect to rebuild Armenia,'' said
Mrs. Simone, of New York City. She noted that the nearly 100,000 dead
and 700,000 reportedly left homeless made up almost half the
population of Soviet Armenia.
    Her foundation is raising millions of dollars to send medicine and
other relief supplies to Armenia.
    Soviet diplomats met with State Department officials late Friday
afternoon to make arrangements for sending the chartered plane, U.S.
and Russian spokesmen said.
    The operation marks the first large-scale U.S. government assistance
to Soviet Union in the post-World War II era. The two countries were
allies during the war.
    The flight and many members of the team started from New York's
Kennedy airport, and the team added more members and the bulk of the
supplies at the later stop at Dulles.
    The dogs will be used to help find possible survivors in the rubble
left by the massive earthquake, which Soviet authorities estimated
had killed 80,000 people.
    The U.S. government offered to help Thursday but received no
response until late Friday afternoon when Yevgeny Kutovoi,
minister-counselor at the Soviet Embassy, met at the State Department
with Mrs. Taft.
    Kutovoi, at a news conference, read a long list of goods, largely
medical supplies, that are urgently needed in Armenia.
    ''We are ready to receive medicines and medical equipment (syringes,
medication, etc.) blood transfusion systems, medical and other
equipment for rebuilding hospitals, outpatient clinics,
kindergartens, nurseries, tents, blankets, clothing,'' he said.
    ''Cargo-carrying planes, including military transport aircraft, may
fly directly to Yerevan,'' he said. ''We are receiving those
donations with gratitude. We did not request it. We received offers
of aid.''
    Kutovoi said Soviet doctors had rushed to the stricken area, and
that foreign medical specialists were not needed immediately.
    The Soviet government has established two special bank accounts for
gifts and special teams of French and British dogs were already in
Yerevan helping search the rubble for survivors, he said.
    One bank account was at the Dupont Circle Branch of the Riggs
National Bank, 1913 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.,
20036. The name of the account is ''Earthquake Relief Fund,'' and the
account number is 04-08-572-564.
    The Soviet Vnesheconbank in Moscow has also established a fund for
wire transfers. That account number is 70-000-412, said Kutovoi.
    The American Red Cross reported that money, antibiotics and kits
used to draw blood are being collected and the Soviet Embassy said it
was deluged with telephone calls.
    ''The phones are ringing constantly as people call to express their
condolences,'' embassy press counselor Igor Bulay said. ''There is a
stream of donations. People are walking up to the doors of the
embassy with checks and money orders. Checks are beginning to come in
the mail. A lot of people are calling to ask how to make donations.''
    The embassy plans to set up a special telephone line to handle the
calls, but has not yet established the number, said Kutovoi.
    Red Cross spokeswoman Terry Gautier said her organization was making
arrangements with major pharmaceutical firms to supply antibiotics
and was collecting money to aid quake victims. Emigre Armenians are
contributing heavily, she said.
    U.S. officials also are collecting ''blood packs'' for shipment to
the Soviet Union, she said.
    The American Red Cross has activated a toll-free number for people
to call to offer assistance. The number is 1-800-453-9000. Americans
also can make donations to local Red Cross chapters, marked for the
Soviet Armenian Earthquake Relief, or through various Armenian
groups.
****
    ''For us, this is a long-term prospect to rebuild Armenia,'' said
Mrs. Simone, of New York City. She noted that the nearly 100,000 dead
and 700,000 reportedly left homeless made up a large share of
Armenia's population of 3.3 million.
    Her foundation, 10th graf
***
PM-US-Quake-Aid, Sub, a025,31,0132
    WASSHINGTON SUB 5th graf with 3 grafs to update with Bush visit to
USSR Embassy.
    Meanwhile, President-elect Bush paid a visit to the Soviet Embassy
this morning, signing a book of condolences for earthquake victims.
    ''With anguish in our hearts for all those in the Soviet Union who
lost their loved ones,'' Bush wrote in the book. The vice president
was accompanied by his wife, Barbara, and by Brent Scowcroft, whom he
has named to be his national security adviser.
    The relief team members, most of them veterans of major disaster
relief efforts, expressed little fear of entering an unfamiliar
corner of the world where tens of thousands of people have perished
in one of the worst earthquakes of the century.
    ''I have: 6th graf