20 Jan, 2010, America

The US will be sending another 4,000 sailors and marines to Haiti for earthquake relief effort, diverting them from deployments in the Gulf and Africa. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group would significantly increase the ability to quickly provide aid. This move will increase the number of US troops involved to about 16,000.

Haitian officials said that the death toll from the quake is likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000, and that 75,000 bodies had already been buried in mass graves. And an estimated 1.5 million are homeless. More than 120 people altogether have been rescued by international teams. The US Second Fleet announced that the three-ship USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), which left port in Virginia on Monday for its regular deployment, had been told to go to Haiti. The group will pick up the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) from North Carolina en route, making up a force of 2,000 sailors and 2,000 marines.

The first group of 2,000 marines on board vessels off Haiti’s coast went ashore on Tuesday to assist the relief effort. They have since landed heavy equipment, such as bulldozers, diggers and trucks, and other supplies near the epicenter of last week’s earthquake.