LTR...we stingy Americans are doing more than giving money.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — The first American military cargo planes brought supplies to this devastated town Friday, and a U.S. carrier battle group was heading for Indonesia's Sumatra island to spearhead an unprecedented multinational military effort to assist quake and tsunami survivors.
A second U.S. Marine strike group was steaming westward from the Pacific territory of Guam for the seas off Sri Lanka to buttress the burgeoning global drive to bring food, water and medical supplies to millions of increasingly desperate people.
Other nations rushed to join the effort, as naval ships from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and India either were preparing to sail on Friday or Saturday, or were already under way for Aceh, Sumatra's northernmost province and the area closest to the quake.
The flow of aid got a big boost as the first of many expected C-130 cargo planes arrived at the regional airport in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Aceh. The government said supplies have arrived on Sumatra from 18 countries on 42 sorties by Friday. Military C-130s from Australia and New Zealand have also joined in the airlift effort.
"Seeing the destruction makes me sad," Capt. Jennifer Clavenna, of Alexandria, Va., said as a U.S. plane was unloaded in Banda Aceh. "I'm hoping we can bring enough supplies."
Meanwhile, led by the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the five-ship battle group was powering Friday through the Strait of Malacca, the 550-mile waterway that lies between Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. Aceh is at its northern end.
The seven-vessel Guam group, headed by the USS Bonhomie Richard, will arrive off Sri Lanka in a week, U.S. officials said.
In addition to the two U.S. vessel groups, a further eight U.S. supply ships were also sailing from Guam and Diego Garcia toward quake-hit regions, officials said, without saying which countries they were headed to. Between them, the supply ships carry 450,000 gallons of water, and are capable of making a further 90,000 gallons daily.
In the skies above, dozens of planes and helicopters converged on Medan, the largest town in North Sumatra, as well as Banda Aceh, where tens of thousands of people are known to have perished.
The United States will deliver "as much help as soon as we can, as long as we're needed," said Navy Capt. Roger Welch, chief of U.S. Pacific Command's Joint Interagency Coordination Group in Hawaii.
In Singapore, personnel scrambled to prepare for the departure of RSN Endurance, which will carry heavy-lifting equipment, food and medical supplies. In Australia, HMAS Kanimbla will leave Sydney Harbor late Friday transporting two helicopters, about 300 defense personnel and construction equipment. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said the naval ship KD Mahawangsa was scheduled to leave for Aceh on Saturday.
India — which has already deployed 32 ships along the coasts of southern India, the Andaman and Nicobar islands, Sri Lanka, the Maldives — was sending two additional ships to Indonesia, navy spokesman Cmdr B.K. Garg said.
But getting the aid to those who need it has proved to be a logistical nightmare. And while tons of aid sit unopened at the airport, droves of refugees have established a tent village along the main road leading into this provincial capital on the island of Sumatra.
"It's on the path of the aid trucks," said one refugee, Umi Sana.
