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30 December 2004

Floating Warehouses of Supplies, Equipment Head to Asia

U.S. military moving generators, bulldozers, trucks, skilled personnel

By Rebecca Ford Mitchell
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- U.S. ships laden with supplies and personnel to assist in the humanitarian response to the tsunami tragedy will begin arriving within two days and all are expected to be in place within two weeks, according to a Pacific Command (PACOM) operations officer.

In addition to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group and the USS Bonhomme Richard expeditionary group which began sailing for the area December 28, eight cargo ships have set out from Guam, said Navy Captain Roger Welch, head of the Joint Inter-Agency Coordination Group, during a December 30 briefing from the command’s headquarters in Hawaii.

The eight commercial vessels, leased to the U.S. military, are floating warehouses, Welch said, and, in addition to food, water, and medical supplies, carry bulldozers, generators, heavy transport trucks and HUMVEEs (high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles).  Airlifts will be used to get the material where it is needed.

Assistance in search and rescue by U.S. planes is ongoing, he said.

Joint Task Force 536, the military’s control and command group for this humanitarian mission, working out of the Royal Thai airbase in Utaphao, Thailand, is currently operational with the commanding officer scheduled to arrive December 31, Welch reported.  Materials continue to arrive there.

“I think that in the next few days you will see a start at pointing our efforts at specific places,” he said. 

“Our biggest challenge is the assessment of the damage,” he added. “I don’t believe we have begun to see the full extent of this tragedy. This is a disaster of unfathomable proportions.”  The United States sent in three assessment teams of 15 to 40 people each to Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand on December 28. 

Although the assessments will be ongoing, the United States will begin coordinating an effort to let people know what is needed, Welch said.  “Our job is to find out what’s available, where it is, how fast we can we get it to these places and what can we do with it once it’s there," he said.

He emphasized that the military was not taking over the relief effort but, instead, was working with the host countries to determine what kinds of assistance are needed and how the United States could be most helpful in meeting those needs.

Along with supplies and equipment, the military will be bringing in personnel with medical and forensic expertise as well as construction and repair skills, he said.

Welch said he did not know how many troops would eventually be needed. “All the assets of the U.S. government are available to help in this effort,” he said. “We want to do as much as we can to bring help as soon as we can for as long as we are needed, until the host countries can handle it themselves.”

The U.S. effort is being headed by the Department of State, in coordination with its embassies in the region, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)