U.S. Military Sends Aid to Earthquake Victims
U.S. Military forces in Japan are assisting in the earthquake relief efforts:
President Barack Obama said Saturday that one U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, was already off the coast of Japan, and another was on its way. Washington has also dispatched urban search and rescue teams, according to U.S. Ambassador John Roos.
CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the USS Reagan is serving as a “lily pad” for Japanese helicopters, i.e. a place to land and refuel. Reagan has a supply ship with it, so it will be able to keep refueling Japanese helicopters indefinitely. There are two escort ships with the USS Reagan and four more destroyers on the way to conduct Search and Rescue.
The next big deck ship to arrive will be the Tortuga, probably sometime tomorrow. It has just finished loading heaving lift MH-53 helos in Korea and is en route to Honshu. The Essex, an amphibious ship carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit is in the South China Sea but still a couple days away. It will rendezvous with two other amphibious ships: Harpers Ferry and Germantown.
The Blue Ridge, a command ship loaded with relief supplies, has left Singapore but it will get to Japan after Essex.
This is very different from Haiti where the local government had no resources and was basically helpless until the U.S. military arrived. The Japanese have hundreds of helicopters.
Marines and sailors from the Third Marine Expeditionary Force are part of the group headed for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in mainland Japan, according to a Marine spokesman. The support will include sending “command and control, staff assistance, KC-130J cargo aircraft and CH-46E transport helicopters from Okinawa (Futenma Air Station) to mainland Japan to provide critically needed assistance. Additional aircraft and supplies will continue to be moved in the next several days,” the Marines said in a press release.
The marines and sailors will join the operations of 50,000 Japanese troops that Prime Minister Naoto Kan said have joined rescue and recovery efforts, aided by boats and helicopters.
As we speak, Japanese television is continuing to show live footage of helicopters rescuing people from rooftops in flooded areas. I’m not sure if any of them are American helicopters, but as the article states, the U.S. military has been helping provide fuel for the Japanese helicopters.
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