WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (AFP) - More US naval forces headed Monday to tsunami-hit Asia, including a helicopter carrier, amphibious craft and six ships each capable of carrying 90,000 gallons (340,687 liters) of water, US officials said.
The helicopter carrier USS Bonhomme Richard was expected to arrive in the region as early as Tuesday, joining the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which is north of Sumatra and already has helicopters flying relief missions, Brigadier General John Allen said.
"I can say that we've reached many of the isolated areas of Aceh," Allen said referring to the Indonesian province that was hardest hit by the December 26 tsunami.
"In the next couple (of) days, we'll reach many, many more. And I'm hoping that within a matter of days we'll be able to tell you that we've reached every isolated area," he said at a news conference here.
The US military plans to use the ships' helicopters and a fleet of C-130 cargo planes to distribute relief supplies that are beginning to amass at central air hubs and ports in the region.
"As the world responds -- in this case, as the United States responds, as the neighbors, countries who are neighboring respond, as the world responds, lots of things flow in. And they flow in very quickly," Allen said.
"So if you're not careful, pretty quickly you have a build up of supplies that you now must move forward," he said.
Allen said 17 C-130 aircraft already were on the ground in the area, and more were converging on the region.
Long-haul military transport planes like C-17s and C-5s also are bringing supplies and equipment into the region.
The C-130, which is designed to land on short, primitive runways, and heavy-lift helicopters will carry supplies to smaller airports in the stricken areas.
"And then from those particular points, the helicopters will take up individual loads and deliver them down to the points where there is need," Allen said.
"Now, all of this is being coordinated so that it is as efficient as we can make it and as effective as we can make it, to put the right kind of supplies against the right need as quickly as we can possibly move it," he said.
The Bonhomme Richard carries 24 helicopters, including CH-53 heavy-lift helicopters, CH-46 medium-lift helicopters and UH-1 Huey light utility helicopters. Another 19 helicopters are aboard the USS Lincoln, mostly H-60 helicopters.
"Those helicopters will go immediately to work as soon as they reach the objective area and will assist in the process that is already under way through the Abraham Lincoln, and continuing the process of moving relief supplies forward from ... Medan and Banda," he said.
Six container ships capable of storing 90,000 gallons of fresh water and of producing tens of thousands of gallons more a day also were on their way, he said.
They have landing platforms so they can be unloaded by helicopters as well as by hoses onto barges.
Allen said landing craft aboard some of the three amphibious ships in the Bonhomme Richard expeditionary strike group also will be used.
"They have unique capabilities, so we can, again, bypass the devastated infrastructure to be able to deliver to areas where the supplies are needed," he said.
A joint task force set up at the Utapao air base in Thailand to orchestrate the movement of US military forces and supplies into stricken areas, he said.
Support groups also have been established in individual countries to coordinate relief efforts and assessment teams have been dispatched to the hard-hit areas to determine what is needed, officials said.
01/03/2005 21:23 GMT - AFP