SOUTHCOM Diverts Navy Ship, Helos to Support Haiti Relief

MIAMI, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. Southern Command has
directed Commander, Fourth Fleet to divert the amphibious ship USS KEARSARGE
(LHD 3) to Haiti to assist with relief efforts in areas affected by flooding
due to tropical storm activity in the Caribbean.
Kearsarge will depart today from its present location in Santa Marta,
Colombia to Haiti and will join other U.S. assistance operations in the
vicinity of Port au Prince on 7 Sept.
Kearsarge is currently supporting phase two of Continuing Promise 2008, a
humanitarian assistance mission that includes assisting partner nations
impacted by natural disasters and other emergencies resulting in human
suffering or danger to human lives.
Kearsarge's capabilities include rapid movement of personnel and cargo by
helicopter and landing craft, making it an ideal platform to support
humanitarian relief mission on short notice.
Airlift assets embarked aboard Kearsarge include the CH-53 Super Stallion
and the MH-60S Seahawk.
The crew of Kearsarge includes a team of medical personnel that can
provide first-aid and other health care related services to communities
impacted by conditions associated with the flooding. Medical facilities
aboard Kearsarge include four operating rooms, 13 intensive-care unit beds, 40
medical ward beds, a laboratory, x-ray equipment and a blood bank.
SOUTHCOM last directed an amphibious ship to assist a partner nation
impacted by a natural disaster exactly one year ago. On Sept. 5, 2007,
SOUTHCOM dispatched the USS WASP to provide assistance to victims of Hurricane
Felix in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.
U.S. Southern Command military planners continue to work with interagency
partners and their counterparts in countries affected by the recent tropical
cyclone activity to assess recovery needs in the affected areas and identify
additional U.S. military units that may be able to provide assistance.
Additional information will be released as it becomes available and posted
at www.southcom.mil.
Additional information about Continuing Promise 2008 is available at:
http://www.southcom.mil/AppsSC/factFiles.php?id=53.
SOURCE U.S. Southern Command

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, U.S. Fourth Fleet LT., Joe Vasquez,
+1-904-270-4813, or +1-904-483-6877, joe.m.vasquez@navy.mil