US military ships to aid in relief efforts

A U.S. carrier battle group steamed toward Indonesia’s Sumatra island Friday to spearhead an unprecedented multinational military effort to assist the survivors of last weekend’s quake and tsunamis. Naval ships prepositioned on Saipan reportedly left the island to join the relief mission in Thailand.

The Associated Press reported that another U.S. marine strike group was sailing westward from the Pacific territory of Guam for the seas off Sri Lanka to buttress the burgeoning global drive to bring water and medical supplies to millions of increasingly desperate people.

The AP report also said naval ships from Singapore and Australia were prepared to sail yesterday for Aceh, Sumatra’s northernmost province and the area closest to the epicenter of the quake.

On Saipan, relief efforts continue to pour in for thousands of victims of Asian tsunamis, with various groups embarking on a campaign to solicit donations.

Saipan’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 34547 launched a campaign to solicit donations that would be sent to survivors of Asian tsunamis, which claimed over 118,000 lives and displaced millions in 11 nations.

“It is truly unfortunate that during this holiday season when so many of us have so much to be thankful for that there are others in the world that have been devastated by the recent earthquake/tsunami in the Indian Ocean,” said VFW post commander John David.

David said he would coordinate with the CNMI government on how to send relief goods to the victims. The VFW urged the public to donate food, clothing, blankets, and money to tsunami victims. Donations can be dropped off at the VFW Post Home and canteen located north of the Cabrera Center on Beach Road. The VFW can be reached at tel. no. 235-4839.

David also said he received information that prepositioned Navy ships on Saipan have left the Marianas for Thailand on a relief mission. He stressed, though, that the information he received is unverified and unofficial. Reports have it, though, that the prepositioned ships on Saipan were pulled out to join the relief efforts as they have the capability to produce their own water.

The Naval Forces Marianas has yet to elaborate on the military’s relief mission, including the involvement of prepositioned ships on Saipan. The Saipan Tribune contacted the Naval headquarters on Guam, but the latter has not made any confirmation regarding the number of prepositioned ships that joined the relief mission and those that remain on Saipan.

Quoting Navy officials, however, the AP report said the first wave of U.S. military relief operations, a five-ship battle group led by the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, would take up position off Aceh later yesterday. By Friday morning, the ships were in the Strait of Malacca, the 900-kilometer waterway that lies between Sumatra and peninsula Malaysia; Aceh is at its northern tip.

The seven-vessel Guam group, headed by the USS Bonhomie Richard, will arrive off Sri Lanka in a week, according to the AP report.

“The United States is not there to take over the rescue or relief effort,” the report said, quoting an unnamed official. “We are there to provide whatever help they decide they need.”

The AP report, however, quoted Navy Capt. Roger Welch, chief of U.S. Pacific Command’s Joint Interagency Coordination Group in Hawaii, as saying that the United States would deliver “as much help as soon as we can, as long as we’re needed.”

Dozens of planes and helicopters—both military and civil—reportedly converged on the skies above Medan, the largest town in North Sumatra, as well as Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Aceh, where tens of thousands of people are now known to have perished.

In Singapore, navy personnel scrambled to complete final preparations for the departure of RSN Endurance, a 141 meter landing ship tank that’s carrying bulldozers, heavy-lifting equipment, food and medical supplies.

Meanwhile in Australia, HMAS Kanimbla was scheduled to leave Sydney Harbor late Friday, transporting two helicopters, about 300 defense personnel and construction equipment—including bulldozers and diggers—to help clear debris and begin rebuilding Aceh province.

AP quoted Australian Commander Steve Woodall as saying that authorities in Indonesia were working to identify which areas needed help most urgently.

“We’ve got Australian defense force personnel on the ground in Aceh at the moment, they’re talking to Indonesian authorities and they’re working out where best for us to go and use our skills,” Woodall told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio on Friday.

A team of 100 army engineers and an underwater survey team would also be on board to help remove wreckage under the sea.