NYT: U.S. Begins Shuttle of Aid to Victims Along Thai Coast

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U.S. Begins Shuttle of Aid to Victims Along Thai Coast
By JAMES BROOKE and NICK CUMMING-BRUCE

Published: January 1, 2005


PHUKET, Thailand, Dec. 31 - With the engines of a giant Air Force C-130 idling at a loud whine, American airmen in flight suits lowered the back cargo bay Friday evening for a quick exchange. Four pallets of blankets, sleeping mats and medical equipment rolled out. Four pallets stacked with wooden coffins of foreign tourists rolled in.

American cargo planes started a shuttle service from Bangkok on Friday, bringing tarpaulins and bedding to shelter the living and dry ice by the ton to preserve the dead in the beach resorts of southern Thailand devastated by the tsunami.

But as supplies moved out, the big challenge that remained was how to distribute aid to survivors scattered along thousands of miles of beaches in 11 nations bathed by the Indian Ocean.

Starting this weekend, American air operations for the entire Indian Ocean relief effort are to be directed out of Utapao, a Thai air base 90 miles south of Bangkok. The airlift will be part of a task force to be commanded by Lt. Gen. Robert R. Blackman, a marine who is the overall American military commander in Okinawa....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/01/international/worldspecial4/01thai.html