- Title: SRI LANKA:
- Date: 4th January 2005
- Summary: (W4) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (JANUARY 4, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: OF U.S. MARINES WALKING OUT OF AIRCRAFT AND INTO SHUTTLE BUS. (7 SHOTS) 0.56 2. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. MARINE IDENTIFIED ONLY AS 'KERSTEIN' SAYING: "We're here to help. Let us help, we'll do our best" 1.03 3. MV: U.S. MARINES STANDING ON TARMAC. 1.10 4. WS.MLV: OF VEHICLE TAKING EQUIPMENT OUT OF AIRCRAFT. (2 SHOTS) 1.32 5. MLV: MILITARY VEHICLE DRIVING ON TARMAC. 1.36 6. VARIOUS: OF U.S. HELICOPTERS MOVING AROUND ON TARMAC. (3 SHOTS) 2.05 7. MV/WS: OF U.S. MARINES STANDING ON TARMAC. (2 SHOTS) 2.20 8. MLV: C-130 AIRCRAFT ON TARMAC WITH MARINES STANDING AROUND. 2.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
- Country: Sri Lanka
- Reuters ID: LVAAZX3K4660TJML211FK665GAH7
- Story Text: More U.S. marines arrive at Colombo airport to help
aid effort in southern Sri Lanka.
More U.S. marines arrived at Colombo airport on
Tuesday (January 4) to help the aid effort in southern Sri
Lanka.
The advance team of 50 marines arrived on a C-130
aircraft from a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan. The
team is expected to begin preparations for the arrival of a
further 1,400 marines.
The marines will support field hospitals and help with
the distribution of clean water. Once a base has been set
up, they will use helicopters to reach more remote areas.
More than 30,000 people died in Sri Lanka after last
Sunday's (December 26) tsunami.
Now there is a danger that disease will spread in areas
affected by the tsunami and there have been unconfirmed
reports of instances of gang rape and physical abuse of
tsunami victims.
Women's and children's rights groups raised fears of
sexual abuse of victims and police and troops were deployed
at temporary shelters to protect them.
Heavy rain again lashed eastern regions on Tuesday,
flooding camps housing hundreds of thousands of homeless
and making the aid operation more difficult.
Planeloads of international aid are now pouring into
the country and the main problem for relief workers is to
make sure the aid gets to where it is needed.
Many countries have sent relief teams to Sri Lanka to
build and operate field hospitals, fix sanitation
facilities, improve water supplies and help repair an
infrastructure smashed to pieces by the tsunami.
But most of what they do will only produce temporary
solutions.
The country is likely to feel the effects of the
tsunami for years to come -- if not a generation -- after
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse told parliament on Tuesday
that nearly half the 30,000 Sri Lankans who died were
children.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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