Coast Guard Tsumani Relief Operations U. S. Coast Guard January 10, 2005 COAST GUARD ISLAND, ALAMEDA, Calif. - A Coast Guard tsunami relief team of two C-130 aircraft and 42 people began the final leg of their flight to Utapao, Thailand, from Kadena Air Force Base, Japan, today. The team from across the U.S. rendezvoused in Honolulu and began their trip across the Pacific Ocean Wednesday, making two overnight stops in Guam and Japan. The Coast Guard C-130's are used for maritime patrol, search and rescue, and logistical support. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii, and Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, Calif., each provided one aircraft to the relief effort. The tsunami relief team includes 28 flight-crew members, made up of seven-crewmembers from air stations: Barbers Point, Hawaii; Sacramento, Calif.; Elizabeth City, N.C., and Clearwater, Fla. There are 11 members from the Coast Guard's Pacific Area Strike Team from Novato, Calif., in addition to a surgeon, a public affairs specialist and a liaison officer. The aircraft will transport emergency supplies and strike team members will address hazardous material spills in the communities devastated by the tsunami. The Coast Guard forces will be assigned to U.S. Joint Task Force 536 that is conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in South Asia. The 378-foot Coast Guard Cutter Munro, homeported in Alameda, Calif., departed Singapore today to rejoin the US Navy's Abraham Lincoln Battle Group that is on scene providing humanitarian assistance to areas affect by the Asian tsunami. Munro was enroute to the Persian Gulf as part of the battle group that was diverted for disaster relief.

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