Navy Airlifts Supplies to Ravaged Coast

ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN — Helicopters from this Navy aircraft carrier flew repeated relief missions along the nearby shoreline of Indonesia on Sunday, delivering food, water and medical supplies to thousands of survivors stranded along the west coast of Aceh province after last week’s devastating tsunami.

Crew members returned from a second day of relief efforts with reports that the helicopters had been mobbed by residents who in some cases tried to clamber aboard and get a ride out.

They found that many towns and villages had suffered huge casualties: In the city of Meulaboh, about 110 miles south of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, only 1,000 people survived out of a population of 60,000, said the Lincoln’s skipper, Capt. Kendall Card.

American naval officers set up a command post in Banda Aceh to coordinate U.S. flights in the province, raising the cooperation between the militaries of Indonesia and the United States to a level rarely seen in recent years.

“This is the largest natural disaster of my lifetime and it changes the rule set. It can’t help but be positive, in my view,” Rear Adm. Doug Crowder, commander of the carrier group that includes the Lincoln, said in an interview Sunday aboard the warship.

After a week of climbing death tolls and tales of devastation from the Indian Ocean region, where an estimated 150,000 lives were lost in the Dec. 26 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, the coordinator of U.N. emergency relief efforts said Sunday that backlogged supplies were beginning to reach afflicted areas.

“Good news is coming in by the hour,” said coordinator Jan Egeland.

He warned, however, that it still might take three more days to establish distribution centers for food in Sri Lanka and longer for Indonesia’s most distant areas.

Meanwhile, U.N. agencies also are dropping emergency supplies by helicopter in isolated villages in both nations, which sustained the greatest damage in the disaster.

Indonesia said today that its death toll had topped 94,000, while Sri Lankan officials said they expected their island nation to have suffered 35,000 fatalities.

Unlike in the Pacific Ocean, there was no warning system in the Indian Ocean to alert people to last week’s impending disaster.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters today that Indonesia and its southern Asian neighbors would set up such a system, though he did not specify which nations would participate.

But for now, the immediate focus is on aid.

Governments around the world have pledged nearly $2 billion toward relief efforts, backed up by contributions and projects by private organizations, and emergency supplies have been flowing to airports and warehouses in the region. But the effort to get those supplies to the people most in need has been slowed by damaged roads, shattered infrastructure and too few aircraft.

U.N. coordinator Egeland said that an estimated 1.8 million people needed food, including 100,000 people in Somalia, on Africa’s east coast, at the farthest reaches of the great wave’s destruction, and the United Nations would be able to reach most of them.

“Overall I am more optimistic today than I was yesterday, and especially the day before yesterday, that the global community will be able to face up to this enormous challenge,” Egeland said at a daily briefing at U.N. headquarters in New York. “The international system is working.”

Aid officials have said as many as 5 million people in the region lack the essentials for survival.

In Sri Lanka, aircraft carrying relief supplies continued to arrive in the capital, Colombo, from around the world. Aid trucks appeared in far greater numbers Sunday on the main coastal highway heading from Colombo to refugee camps and disaster sites in the south. Many carried makeshift white mourning flags and hand-painted signs on their grilles advertising their affiliation.

Groups of people lined the highway along some stretches waiting for supplies to be dropped off.

Yet despite the progress, aid workers and victims complained that shortages and distribution problems remained a significant issue.

“The government is still locked in meetings,” said one aid worker who requested anonymity. “We’re a week into it. How many died in that time because of these delays?”

Critics said the Sri Lankan government was causing delays by continuing to insist that all medical aid be routed through its offices, and had only reluctantly voided import taxes on medicines destined for the victims.

In the Indonesian city of Medan, meanwhile, a mountain of rice, instant noodles, crackers and bottled water sat Sunday on an Indonesian military airfield waiting for shipment to Banda Aceh, about an hour’s flight to the north. Operations were slowed by physical constraints of the airport and limited infrastructure, the lack of coordination and miscommunications.

Maj. Dwight Neeley of the U.S. Marines could only scratch his head when he saw a C-130 land at the adjacent commercial airport, far from the cargo and supplies at the military base.

“This is the kind of stuff we have to deal with.”

Aid workers swarmed around Neeley, eager to get on what would be the only flight out to the north at that time. Neeley had made promises to some, but there was only enough space for about 35 of the 50 Spanish doctors, plus a few Marines.

“I’d like to fly more flights out there,” he said. “It’s frustrating.”

The initial slowness and inadequate size of relief efforts were a source of complaints from the region last week, including some directed at the United States. After initially pledging $15 million to the effort, the Bush administration on Friday raised its contribution to $350 million.

On Sunday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defended the U.S. response before he and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush left for a tour of disaster sites in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand over the coming days.

“This disaster took place just seven days ago, and during the first 24 hours, I called every single foreign minister of the most affected nations, and said to them, the United States stands ready to help,” he said on CNN’s “Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer.”

“Beyond the $350 million, our Department of Defense is spending tens of millions of dollars more as we dispatched two carrier groups, a regular big aircraft carrier group and a Marine amphibious group to the region,” Powell added.

“And private donations are significant. So I think that we have responded appropriately.”

The arrival over the weekend of the Lincoln and other U.S. warships, which are being joined by forces from Britain, Australia, Pakistan, Germany, Singapore and India, will help address what U.N. relief coordinator Egeland said were the most pressing needs: cargo planes, forklifts, ships and especially helicopters to deliver aid to remote areas.

“We have very good pledges but it takes time to convert pledges to assistance,” Egeland said.

“But a helicopter can reach a village in no time.”

The aircraft carrier Lincoln, with a crew of about 6,500, has deployed at least 10 of its 17 helicopters to pick up aid supplies in Banda Aceh and carry them down the coast to tsunami victims. It also has sent ashore medical teams and advance teams to coordinate with relief workers.

Officers say the sailors aboard the carrier are eager to help the people of Aceh province, and 1,300 crew members have volunteered to go ashore, including plumbers, welders, electricians and other technicians who could help repair infrastructure. So far, however, only 20 sailors have had a chance to go ashore on advance teams to discuss how the American volunteers should be deployed.

“This is a disaster of worldwide proportions,” said Capt. David Lausman, the Lincoln’s executive officer. “We all want to do the right thing and help. We are here until we are not needed anymore.”

The Lincoln, which was docked in Hong Kong on Christmas, had been scheduled to head north. But after the tsunami, it set course for the Indian Ocean. The carrier traveled 2,000 miles in three and half days, arriving off the coast of Aceh on New Year’s Day.

A few weeks ago, such a deployment of U.S. forces probably would have provoked a storm of protests across Indonesia -- especially if the American troops had entered Aceh, where the Indonesian military has been attempting to suppress a separatist rebellion for 28 years.

In addition, the U.S. Congress has restricted military assistance to Indonesia since the 1999 savaging of East Timor, now independent, by paramilitary groups loyal to the Indonesian military.

But the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, which wiped out hundreds of coastal villages in Indonesia alone, has altered the political landscape.

The Indonesian military, which lost hundreds of troops in the disaster, acknowledges it has little choice but to rely on other nations if assistance is to reach survivors in time.

“It is fine for the U.S. military to come, because the aid is on behalf of humanity,” said Maj. Gen. Bambang Darmono, who is in charge of distributing tsunami assistance.

“If a disaster happens, the only power that can bring aid is the military. Aceh is so pathetic and we need help, and they are offering help,” he said.

It is too early to say whether the new spirit of cooperation can lead to a greater U.S. role in Indonesia or to an end to the long-running fighting between Acehnese separatists and the government.

Last year, the U.S. was a key backer of negotiations that nearly achieved a peace accord before the Indonesian government scuttled the talks and reimposed martial law in Aceh.

Since the tsunami, the Indonesian army has turned its attention from fighting rebels to disaster relief, while separatists belonging to the Free Aceh Movement have maintained a low profile.

Many Acehnese, reeling from the enormity of the disaster, are happy to be helped by the Americans.

“I think U.S. aid is so helpful,” said Zainul Arifin, 58, who lost his sister and his home in the disaster. “Who else can help us deliver it?”

Some Indonesians seemed more cautious about accepting U.S. aid.

Zulbahri, 38, a carpenter in Banda Aceh who lost his wife and three sons, said he appreciated the help from abroad but worried that the U.S. might try to affect the country’s religion. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population.

“For me, all help is good,” said Zulbahri, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

“We are here in difficulties. If the U.S. comes, it is good. But please don’t bring any other interests like religion and politics.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Aid for quake and tsunami victims

These aid agencies are among those accepting contributions for assistance that they or their affiliates are providing for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Asia. For a full list of organizations, go to www.latimes.com/aid

Action Against Hunger

247 W. 37th, Suite 1201

New York, NY 10018

(212) 967-7800

www.aah-usa.org

ADRA International

12501 Old Columbia Pike

Silver Spring, MD 20904

(800) 424-2372

www.adra.org

American Friends Service Committee

AFSC Crisis Fund

1501 Cherry St.

Philadelphia, PA 19102

(215) 241-7000

www.afsc.org

American Jewish World Service

45 West 36th St., 10th Floor

New York, NY 10018-7904

(800) 889-7146

www.ajws.org

American Red Cross

International Response Fund

P.O. Box 37243

Washington, DC 20013

(800) HELP NOW

www.redcross.org

Baptist World Aid

Asia Tidal Waves

405 N. Washington St.

Falls Church, VA 22046

(703) 790-8980

www.bwanet.org/bwaid

B’nai B’rith International

Disaster Relief Fund

2020 K St. N.W. 7th Floor

Washington, DC 20006

(212) 490-3290

www.bnaibrith.org

Care USA

151 Ellis St., N.E.

Atlanta, GA 30303-2440

(800) 521-CARE ext. 999

www.careusa.org

Catholic Relief Services

P.O. Box 17090

Baltimore, MD 21203-7090

(800) 736-3467

www.catholicrelief.org

Christian Children’s Fund

2821 Emerywood Parkway

Richmond, VA 23294

(800) 776-6767

www.christianchildrensfund.org

Church World Service

P.O. Box 968

Elkhart, IN 46515

(800) 297-1516

www.churchworldservice.org

Direct Relief International

27 S. La Patera Lane

Santa Barbara, CA 93117

(805) 964-4767

www.directrelief.org

Doctors Without Borders

P.O. Box 2247

New York, NY 10116-2247

(888) 392-0392

www.doctorswithoutborders.org

International Medical Corps

1919 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 300

Santa Monica, CA 90404

(800) 481-4462

www.imcworldwide.org

International Orthodox

Christian Charities

110 West Road, Suite 360

Baltimore, MD 21204

(877) 803-4622

www.iocc.org

International Rescue Committee

P.O. Box 5058

Hagerstown, MD 21741-9874

(877) 733-8433

www.theirc.org

Lutheran World Relief

P.O. Box 17061

Baltimore, MD 21298-9832

(800) 597-5972

www.lwr.org

MAP International

2200 Glynco Parkway

P.O. Box 215000

Brunswick, GA 31521-5000

(800) 225-8550

www.map.org

Mercy Corps

Dept. W

P.O. Box 2669

Portland, OR 97208

(888) 256-1900

www.mercycorps.org

Operation USA

8320 Melrose Ave., Suite 200

Los Angeles, CA 90069

(800) 678-7255

www.opusa.org

Save the Children

54 Wilton Road

Westport, CT 06880

(800) 728-3843

www.savethechildren.org

US Fund for UNICEF

333 E. 38th St.

New York, NY 10016

(800) 4-UNICEF

www.unicefusa.org

Source: Associated Press

Times staff writers Mark Magnier in Galle, Sri Lanka; Maggie Farley at the United Nations; and Don Lee in Medan contributed to this report.