some special engineering capabilities, and communications between DART, Sri Lanka and other relief organizations. The mission was expected to last six weeks. Their first task was to supply hospitals with potable water, (which they hoped to achieve by using their water purification units, which can purify 150,000 to 200,000 litres per day). Thus far, DART has treated 5,800 patients and produced more than 2.5 million litres of purified water. They have also helped repair schools, clear rubble, build temporary shelters and repair fishing boats and water mains in Sri Lanka. The lack of an immediate response by what was supposed to be a rapid-response unit aroused significant criticism. Although the DART team was ready to leave within 24 hours of when the disaster struck, the government took two days to announce that the team would be dispatched, and it took nearly two weeks for DART to actually leave for Sri Lanka, due to a lack of available air transport. These delays notwithstanding, the DART chief, Michael Voith, commended DART's work, saying: "What I can tell you after this mission is the organization of the DART that we have right now ... is a sound organization, it brings an incredible capability to a disaster area". John Watson of CARE Canada, responded by calling the operation an "amateur" response. Voith dismissed these remarks, saying that the team filled a "critical void." DART supporters have also noted that the initial response (i.e. digging people out of collapsed buildings, providing surgery/immediate serious trauma care for the injured), is not a DART responsibility. This is apparent from the fact that they do not have trauma surgeons, SAR assets, firefighters or other professionals who would be of critical importance during the very first days after a disaster. Rather, the job of DART is to mitigate the impact of the lack of critical infrastructure after a disaster. Operation Plateau (Pakistan), 2005 DART responded to the magnitude 7.6 2005 Kashmir earthquake on October 8, 2005. On October 14, three days after a nine-member Canadian delegation left to assess the situation, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced that DART would be going to the Muzaffarabad region of Pakistan. The reconnaissance team arrived on October 16, the main force two days later. By December 9 all DART personnel had returned to Canada. DART distributed 500 tonnes of humanitarian aid supplies and purified and distributed 3,811,535 litres of drinking water. The team