各国船只，飞机向海啸灾民提供援助

（单词翻译）

各国船只，飞机向海啸灾民提供援助

Naval² ships from the United States, Australia, India, and Singapore are steaming to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. They are carrying supplies, personnel, and construction equipment to areas devastated³ by the earthquake and killer⁴ waves five-days ago.

A member of the U.S. senior military command, General James Conway, says a disaster relief team has been sent to each of these three countries.

James Conwa: Their task, of course, will be to make immediate⁵ assessment⁶ as to the nature and the scope of the impact of the disaster.

A U.S. aircraft carrier group of four ships is deploying⁷ off the coast of northern Indonesia's Aceh province. Six ships will steam to Sri Lanka. And since Thursday, about two dozen cargo⁸ and search-and-rescue planes have been flying missions from a base in Thailand.

Thailand has been designated the hub of the U.S. effort. The head of the Joint⁹ U.S. Military Assistance Group, Colonel Jack¹⁰ Dibrell, says the U.S. planes have doubled the capacity of the Thai royal air force. They are airlifting relief supplies to the west coast, where thousands of people have been killed or injured.

Colonel Jack Dibrell: Phase one is primarily to give them [the Thai's] that lift capability¹¹ and phase two may be, more and more, forces coming in to help them in the rebuilding and assessing where we can best apply the military assets that we have.

Australia Friday sent a navy ship carrying helicopters, construction equipment, and army engineers to Aceh to help reconstruction¹² and relief efforts in devastated communities that have been cut off by damaged roads.

Commander Steve Woodhall aboard the Kanimbla says the crew is ready for its task.

Steve Woodhall: I think it is going to be difficult, but I have got a great team. They are well-trained and our military skills can be applied¹³ to these sort of disaster relief efforts and I am sure once we get these people ashore¹⁴, we can make a difference.

Singapore is also sending a navy ship to Aceh with food, medical supplies, and bulldozers. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says 700 Singaporeans are being deployed¹⁵ and called it unprecedented¹⁶ effort for the nation of five million people.

Lee Hsien Loong: We have never done anything on this scale before. So we are pushing the limits of what we have done.

Relief experts say military fleets, with their large transport capacity, provide valuable support in moving large amounts of aid to devastated regions, and then distributing the aid to isolated¹⁷ populations. The U.S. ships can also produce tens of thousands of liters of badly needed clean water.

Scott Bobb, VOA news, Bangkok.

注释：

assessment [E5sesmEnt] n. 被评估的金额

royal [5rCiEl] adj. 王室的

helicopter [5helikCptE] n. 直升飞机

navy [5neivi] n. 海军

capacity [kE5pAsiti] n. 能力

isolated [5aisEleitid] adj. 孤立的