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U.S. NAVY PHOTO Indonesian and Australian servicemembers unloaded supplies yesterday in Sumatra, Indonesia, with the help of sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln to be distributed by U.S. Navy helicopters throughout the island.

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100 isle personnel
to aid Asia

More than 100 Marines and sailors stationed in Hawaii will join tsunami relief efforts this week in southern Asia.

Six CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters from the Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe and their crews will transport emergency relief supplies to needed areas and evacuated injured people, Chuck Little, Marine Forces Pacific spokesman, said yesterday.

Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362, nicknamed the "Ugly Angels," under the command of Lt. Col. Scott Minaldi, will be airlifted via cargo aircraft within the week, he said.

A Coast Guard C-130 airplane to transport emergency supplies and humanitarian assistance is expected to leave from Barbers Point tomorrow, the Coast Guard said. Its primary cargo will be food, water, and emergency medical and shelter supplies.

Coast Guard Pacific Area Strike Team members from Alameda, Calif., will make initial assessments of hazardous materials and conditions in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Maldives, Malaysia and Thailand. The team will provide assessments of clean-up requirements and long-term support for any sustained operations in the affected region, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard Cutter Munro, home-ported in Alameda, Calif., and another C-130 airplane based in Sacramento also are going to help with disaster relief efforts as part of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group.

The U.S. Pacific Command, based at Camp Smith, has established a Web site with news of military relief efforts at www.pacom.mil/special/0412asia/index.shtml.

Floods compound suffering

Evacuees in Sri Lanka are forced
to flee again as rains boost the
threat of disease in the area

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia » After the devastation wreaked by the seas, a deluge from the skies deepened the misery for tsunami-stricken areas yesterday, triggering flash floods in Sri Lanka that sent evacuees fleeing and increasing the threat of deadly disease. U.S. forces began one of their biggest relief missions ever, with the death toll likely to hit 150,000.

A 5.9 earthquake rocked Sumatra today, the second strong aftershock on the hard-hit island in two days. But there were no reports of further damage or injury.

The world's efforts shifted into high gear in ways big and small: elephant convoys working in Thailand, global assistance reaching $2 billion with a fresh pledge from Tokyo, and aid-bearing American helicopters touching down in Indonesia to the joy of tsunami survivors.

The confirmed death toll from the quake and tsunamis that hit a week ago Sunday passed 123,000, and the United Nations has said the estimated number was approaching 150,000. Thailand said it expects its death toll to reach 8,000.

U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan decided to visit Indonesia, the hardest-hit nation, where the official death toll stood at more than 80,000, but officials said it could reach 100,000. Annan will attend a conference Thursday in Jakarta on organizing relief.

"We mourn, we cry and our hearts weep to witness thousands of victims sprawled everywhere," said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, touring the damage on Sumatra island, which bore the brunt of both the quake and the waves.

Hungry Indonesians welcomed a dozen American Sea Hawk helicopters sent from the USS Abraham Lincoln as they landed in Banda Aceh and other parts of Sumatra island's devastated northwest coast, bringing relief supplies including temporary shelters. Also, a flotilla of cargo planes carrying Marines and water-purifying equipment headed to Sri Lanka.

A day after President Bush upped the U.S. pledge to $350 million, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced yesterday that his country would contribute up to $500 million to relief efforts.

"The carnage is of a scale that defies comprehension," Bush said in his weekly radio address, announcing a proclamation calling for U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff this week in honor of the dead. Secretary of State Colin Powell was also heading for the region.

But the dollar figures were an abstraction for survivors whose hearts were broken once again by water.

At one refugee camp on the grounds of the airport of Banda Aceh, hundreds of people spent a wet night shivering under plastic sheets.

"With no help we will die," said Indra Syaputra. "We came here because we heard that we could get food, but it was nonsense. All I got was some packets of noodles."

More amazing stories of survival emerged.

The Indonesian Red Cross in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, reportedly dug out a survivor from the ruins of a house where he had been buried since the tsunami struck. On India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, a woman who fled the killer waves gave birth Monday in the forest that became her sanctuary. She named her son "Tsunami."

Even art became part of the folklore of resilience.

In the historic port town of Galle, Sri Lanka, several Buddha statues of cement and plaster were found unscathed amid collapsed brick walls in the center of the devastated city.

To many residents, it was a divine sign.

"The people are not living according to religious virtues," said Sumana, a Buddhist monk.

In addition to the deaths, 5 million people were homeless. The hunt for loved ones dragged on with tens of thousands still missing. Among the missing were some 3,500 Swedes and 1,000 Germans, and hundreds of others from Scandinavia, Italy and Belgium.