Posted on 01/01/2005 1:59:30 PM PST by Pikamax
Tsunami Survivors Mob U.S. Aid Copters
38 minutes ago World - AP Asia
By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer
ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN - Desperate, homeless villagers on the tsunami-ravaged island of Sumatra mobbed American helicopters carrying aid Saturday as the U.S. military launched its largest operation in the region since the Vietnam War, ferrying food and other emergency relief to survivors across the disaster zone.
From dawn until sunset on New Year's Day, 12 Seahawk helicopters shuttled supplies and advance teams from offshore naval vessels while reconnaissance aircraft brought back stark images of wave-wrecked coastal landscapes and their hungry, traumatized inhabitants.
"They came from all directions, crawling under the craft, knocking on the pilot's door, pushing to get into the cabin," said Petty Officer First Class Brennan Zwack. "But when they saw we had no more food inside, they backed away, saying `Thank you, thank you.'"
"The mob decided how we distributed the food. There were so many hands outstretched I don't think any package touched the ground," added Zwack, of Sioux Falls, S.D.
The helicopters took off from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, staged in calm waters about three miles off the Indonesian province of Aceh along with four other vessels to launch the sprawling U.S. military operation.
More than a dozen other ships were en route to southern Asian waters, with the USS Bonhomme Richard, an amphibious assault vessel carrying Marines, headed for Sri Lanka, which along with Indonesia was the worst-hit area. The mission involves thousands of sailors and Marines, along with some 1,000 land-based troops.
Governments and global organizations have pledged about $2 billion in tsunami disaster relief, the United Nations (news - web sites) said Saturday. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raised Japan's offer to $500 million from $30 million, topping President Bush (news - web sites)'s pledge Friday of $350 million.
Thailand's Vietnam War-era air base of Utapao has become the airlift hub for the region. C-130 transport planes were already conducting sorties to Jakarta and the Sumatran cities of Medan and Banda Aceh, according to a statement Saturday by the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.
U.S. Navy (news - web sites) medical staff are also on the ground in Meulaboh, a decimated fishing village where several thousand bodies have been recovered. The Navy is considering a request from Jakarta to establish a field hospital there.
As many as 100,000 people are feared dead on Sumatra, which was closest to the epicenter of last Sunday's catastrophic quake and tsunami. Although aid has been piling up in regional airports, officials have had trouble getting it out to the areas in need and the U.S. military was expected to ease the bottleneck.
The Lincoln's operations officer, Cmdr. Matthew J. Faletti, said the New Year's Day effort off Sumatra was focused on ferrying emergency relief, including biscuits, energy drinks and instant noodles, to communities along the 120-mile stretch of seacoast south of the city of Banda Aceh.
Most of the 25,000 pounds of aid supplies delivered Saturday were picked up from Australian and other foreign shipments at Banda Aceh and then rushed by the helicopters to coastal town, where tens of thousands were killed by the giant wall of water.
U.S. military medical and damage assessment teams were also landed with helicopters flying in heavy winds, rain and low clouds. Supplies had to be dropped from craft hovering over some water-logged areas where landing proved impossible.
"There is nothing left to speak of at these coastal areas," said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Vorce, a pilot from San Diego, California. The tsunami left a swath of destruction as deep as two miles inland, with trees mowed down like grass and the only evidence of buildings in many communities the bare foundations, pilots said.
Many residents were camped out on high ground, either afraid to return to the seacoast or having nothing to return to.
The town of Meuloboh, where some 50,000 people had once lived, was about 80 percent destroyed, Faletti estimated.
The pilots encountered a number of foreign and Indonesian aid workers but distribution of supplies was difficult since the vital coastal road, most bridges and two small airports near Meuloboh had been washed away. "It looks like the sheer force of the water buckled the road from underneath," Vorce said.
Officers said information was being gathered on how best American resources could be used including the skills of machinists, masons, carpenters, divers and general laborers among the more than 6,000 crew members on the giant carrier.
"Everyone is champing at the bit to go out and help," said Vorce. "Today wasn't about a paycheck."
God bless them all and ease their minds at the horrors they will see.
This is heartbreaking. The scope of the loss is unfathonable. And yet I'm on a thread right now with some crazy faux freepers who think we shouldn't be helping. God help us from such insane ideas as that.
Even when hungry and desperate, these people have more class than the bitching UN jerks and their well-fed butts have had at any time in their history.
You can bet right now that there are no ships in the area sitting around in port and that Diego Garcia is one of the hardcore hubs of activity right now.
Our guys shouldnt even put the skids on the ground, just hover and drop for now.
Thank God for our helicopters. What would the un do if they weren't there? Bless our guys and gals.
Despite all the naysayers.
The United States will always be there when it is needed.
The world is coming to help and the United States is helping lead the way.
I saw some of that, too, Peach. At first, I thought they must be kidding--but I don't think they were.
| Unheraled Relief Efforts by US Navy, Airforce |
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| Posted by kingu On 01/01/2005 3:06:28 PM CST · 29 replies · 405+ views Personal e-mails from various posts | January 01, 2005 | Self Reuters finally broke the story about USS Abraham Lincoln and it's task force bringing aid to the northern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia, and briefly mentions some of the aid being given to Sri Lanka, but there is more to the story... Resupply ships, such as AORs, are detaching themselves from the aircraft carrier task force and from Diego Garcia and are fanning out to more isolated islands and using their three launches and two helicopters to bring aid to those in need. The plan is to make two deliveries to each community they come across. The first, sadly enough,... |
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Sad, isn't it?
One of the worst catastrophies I've ever heard about and people don't want to help. Too many spoiled people in this country.
Thought we were the "stingy" country, yet our military is the first on the scene. It's easy for any country to say
it's going to donate enormous-sounding amounts of dollars on paper and in a trumpheted UN-esque way, but it's the immediate and concrete humanitarian aid and response that matter.
Actually, they didn't say Americans shouldn't help, they said that they're against taxpayer dollars being used for that help. Quite a distinction. And if you investigated further you'd find that they're against foreign aid (in the form of taxpayer dollars) in all its forms.
The "crazy" people you're referring to often are the most generous people. .....but with their own money, not other people's.
You aren't on the same thread I'm on. The freeper started the thread saying it was unconstitutional for the president to have the flag lowered to half staff.
And those who are on that thread complaining about money are NOT generous people under any definition of the word.
And many more others who help make this a good place to spend time.
Even if they gave generously of their own money?
I can almost guarantee you, given the comments on that thread, they are NOT giving their own money.
Regardless, tax dollars are our money. And I don't think giving, generous people are opposed to helping in such a catastrophe.
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