BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – The U.S. military is likely to stay on the devastated coast of Indonesia’s tsunami-stricken Sumatra island for an extended period, U.S. officers said Sunday, and the USS Abraham Lincoln’s “Tiger Cruise” at the end of the month has been canceled.
During the past nine days, U.S. Navy helicopters have rushed food, water and medical supplies to areas that are likely to remain inaccessible and in desperate need for weeks. The monster waves in the Indian Ocean exacted their greatest toll and damage on Sumatra. More than 104,000 Indonesians were killed.
“I don’t see an end to this for a long, long time,” said Capt. Larry Burt, who commands the air wing on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. “The biggest shortage is still airlift to the coast.”
Burt said the American airlift would be vital until the road down Sumatra’s eastern coast can be restored, The waves obliterated bridges and washed out large parts of the road. There was no other road access to the northeastern coast, Burt said.
The Lincoln was to have returned to Hawaii at the end of January to pick up family and relatives of the crew for a traditional “Tiger Cruise” back to San Diego.
But the cruise has been canceled, and the ship’s commanding officer, Capt. Kendall Card, jokingly announced to the 5,500 personnel on board that he was starting a pool to guess the return date to the ship’s home port of Everett.
“As long as we’re carrying the load that we are carrying, it’s important for us to be here,” said Rear Adm. William Crowder, who commands the five-vessel carrier strike group. He declined to speculate when the operation would end.
Some U.S. officers also said there was no coordination on the ground among the growing number of nongovernmental organizations, major international organizations and various foreign military units.
“It’s me walking to them, asking for a helicopter,” said Ina Bluemel of the German Red Cross, describing what channels she went through to get 10 tons of hospital equipment flown by U.S. helicopters to a German field hospital being set up at Teunam, about 80 miles southeast of Banda Aceh.
The pilots and crews of the Navy Seahawks flew nonstop for hours at a stretch, pausing only to return to the offshore carrier to refuel. At the air base, officers from the ship, some of them F-18 jet pilots temporarily grounded, issued orders and coordinated the steady air traffic.
Before going ashore for the first time, every crew member was given a briefing which included a scenario of a typical international disaster operation.
“Expect lots of activity, little efficiency,” reads one briefing note.
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