Tsunami Relief Update
The Associated Press has the latest on the effort to rescue tsunami survivors in Sumatra, now being led by the U.S. military:
U.S. helicopters yesterday rescued dozens of desperate and weak tsunami survivors — including a young girl clutching a stuffed Snoopy — as the American military relief operation reached out to remote areas of Indonesia with cartons of food and water. The United States, now spearheading the relief effort, is delivering more supplies than any other nation. A U.S. warship strike group carrying thousands more Marines is on the way to help.The Americans flew missions from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln along a 120-mile stretch of Sumatra's ravaged coastline, further revealing the extent of the destruction.
Many of the 60 victims picked up in more than two dozen missions yesterday were too weak from eight days with little food or water to speak or move.
On a far smaller scale, other navies also are helping. Australia, which has 600 troops involved in relief efforts, is using cargo planes to shuttle aid and sent a troop-carrying ship to the Aceh province. France and India are each deploying two naval vessels to southern Asia. Russia sent three relief planes to Sri Lanka.
Since the tsunami, Indonesia has sent four vessels to the shattered village of Meulaboh, but it has only two helicopters in Sumatra, compared with a planned 25 from the United States.
More American help was on the way. The USS Bonhomme Richard and two other warships carrying a Marine expeditionary unit, dozens of helicopters and tons of supplies steamed into the Indian Ocean yesterday to join relief operations off Sumatra and Sri Lanka."We've been racing across the ocean," said Rear Adm. Chris Ames, commander of the strike force. The strike group, which had been headed to the Persian Gulf, was diverted while near the Pacific island of Guam.
On the Lincoln, ship commander Capt. Kendall L. Card told all aboard through an intercom that the vessel's helicopters flew 27 missions yesterday and delivered 80,000 pounds of supplies.
