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| Massive US ship heads to Haiti for relief effort |
| AFP/PTI / Washington Jan 15, 2010, 13:15 IST |
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A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier sped towards Haiti early today to assist an international relief effort, as anger and despair mounted in the stricken country.
In the ravaged capital, untold numbers of victims faced a third night trapped under rubble, while others gathered to once again sleep in the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince alongside rows of corpses.
As the USS Carl Vinson sailed toward the devastated country, US President Barack Obama promised Haitians they would not be forgotten and pledged to devote every element of US power to their recovery.
In Port-au-Prince, aid flights jostled for space on the small airport's tarmac and single runway as aid poured in from around the world.
The Vinson, a Nimitz-class super carrier, was dispatched from Norfolk, Virginia shortly after Tuesday's 7.0 earthquake, which may have killed up to 100,000 people in the western hemisphere's poorest country.
Designed for war, the ship space ordinarily reserved for fighter jets was filled instead with 19 helicopters due to dispatch water, medicine and other aid to thousands of desperate Haitians.
The ship was just part of a massive US response to the disaster, which Obama described as "one of those moments that calls out for American leadership."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates both cancelled foreign trips to help coordinate the effort, which includes $100 million in immediate assistance and the deployment of over 5,000 US troops.
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