Waves of Hope: The U.S. Navy's Response to the Tsunami in Northern Indonesia

摘要

The powerful underwater earthquake that occurred off the coast of Sumatra on 26 December 2004 generated the most destructive tsunami ever recorded, drowning more than 150,000 people without warning in exposed littoral areas from Indonesia to South Africa. The destruction was particularly severe in the Aceh Province of Indonesia. Humanitarian relief has long been recognized as a mission of the American armed forces and of the U.S. Navy in particular. U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) immediately established an Operations Planning Team (OPT) at PACOM Headquarters at Camp H.M. Smith in Honolulu, Hawaii. On 28 December it formed Joint Task Force (JTF) 536 to plan and execute Operation UNIFIED ASSISTANCE. Working closely with the Indonesian government and military, the Navy delivered, beginning within days of the disaster, vast quantities of emergency food and other supplies and provided on-the-spot emergency medical treatment to thousands of injured and displaced persons along the Aceh coast. During UNIFIED ASSISTANCE, sea basing proved to be a culturally sensitive and politically flexible response to a natural disaster in a region dominated by Muslims and the scene of an active domestic insurgency. Hard power assets, like the aircraft carrier and support ships provided by the U.S. Navy, in conjunction with air support and personnel from the Army,Marine Corps, and Air Force, provided tremendous soft power effects. This operation produced enormous goodwill, in particular when compared to the experience of other powers in the region like China that could not send similar forces. This book tells the story of UNIFIED ASSISTANCE.