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Navy Begins Relief Mission in Bangladesh

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[November 23, 2007]  DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- The U.S. Navy prepared Friday to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis stricken by Cyclone Sidr, a top U.S. military commander said.

The arrival of the USS Kearsarge off the Bangladesh coast came as authorities and aid workers warned that the South Asian country faces acute food shortages after the devastating storm ravaged crops and destroyed infrastructure across a large swath of the country.

"We are here to help the people in their time of need," Adm. Timothy Keating, the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific Ocean, told reporters.

The first ship arrived Thursday and Keating said a second ship, the USS Essex, would arrive in the coming days.

About 300 members from a small Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir, briefly demonstrated in Dhaka against the arrival of the ships, saying they were a threat to Bangladesh's security.

"Go back! We don't want the warships," shouted the protesters at the city's largest state-run mosque after Friday prayers. A contingent of riot police stopped them from pouring into the streets.

The U.S. ships are each carrying about 20 helicopters, which will help in delivering water, food and medical supplies to survivors in remote areas, U.S. officials said.

Officers from the Kearsarge spent most of Friday meeting with Bangladeshi military commanders to coordinate the operation, which will include a survey of the ravaged zone to pinpoint the neediest areas, U.S. officials said.

The delivery of relief supplies is expected to start Saturday, said Geeta Pasi, the top U.S. diplomat in Dhaka.

"We are excited to be able to respond to the immediate needs of the survivors," said Pasi.

U.S. medical teams have been distributing water purification tablets in the stricken zones to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases, Pasi added.

With many drinking water wells destroyed by the cyclone, the need for clean water was becoming critical to ward off cholera and severe diarrhea.

The government has pledged to feed more than two million people left destitute by the storm, which killed more than 3,000.

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But since the Nov. 15 storm hit southwestern Bangladesh, officials and relief agencies have struggled to get desperately needed rice, drinking water and tents to remote villages cut off when rain and winds washed out roads.

The government has promised to distribute 33 pounds of rice per month to each of the estimated 2.5 million people in need, many of them in crowded relief camps, starting Dec. 1, said Tapan Chowdhoury, the government's adviser on food and disaster management. The program will last at least four months, he said.

Kelly Stevenson, the Bangladesh director of Save the Children, said the charity estimates that 50 to 90 percent of the region's rice crop has been destroyed, leaving up to 3 million people at risk of food shortages over the next six months.

Bangladesh has received pledges of international aid of $450 million, including $250 million from the World Bank, Food and Disaster Management secretary Mohammad Ayub Mia said Thursday after a meeting with donors.

But in the short term, aid workers were struggling to get supplies to the devastated coastal region, where shortages have led to fistfights among survivors.

"Thousands of families are facing the real possibility of a second wave of death that can result from lack of clean water, food, shelter and medical supplies," said Stevenson.

The official death toll stood at 3,199, said Lt. Col. Main Ullah Chowdhury, spokesman for the army. The Disaster Management Ministry said 1,724 people were missing and 28,188 people had been injured. It said the cyclone destroyed 458,804 houses and partially damaged another 665,529.

[Associated Press; By FARID HOSSAIN]

Associated Press writers Parveen Ahmed in Dhaka and Tofayel Ahmed in Cox's Bazar contributed to this report.

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