US Navy Prepares to Aid Bangladesh

A cyclone survivor looks on at Padma island in Barishal, 176 kilometers, (110 miles) south of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2007. The Bangladesh government pledged Thursday to feed more than two million people left destitute by Cyclone Sidr amid warnings the country faces acute food shortages after the storm ravaged crops. The Nov. 15 storm killed more than 3,100 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman) (Pavel Rahman - AP)

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- The U.S. Navy made final preparations Saturday for an operation to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis stricken by Cyclone Sidr, a U.S. official said.

The USS Kearsarge, carrying about 20 helicopters and relief supplies, was docked off the country's coast as naval officers made arrangements to deliver aid possibly as early as Sunday to remote villages cut off by the storm.

Authorities and aid workers have warned that the South Asian country faces acute food shortages after Sidr ravaged crops and destroyed infrastructure across a large swath of the country.

"The program is starting today," U.S. embassy spokeswoman Amy Vrampas said Saturday. "We're ramping up and they're getting their team in place."

"The actual operations will probably start tomorrow but that's not clear," Vrampas added.

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

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

About 300 members from a small Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir, briefly demonstrated in Dhaka on Friday 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.

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.

In addition to food shortages, the need for clean water was becoming critical to ward off cholera and severe diarrhea because many drinking water wells destroyed by the cyclone.

U.S. medical teams have already begun distributing water purification tablets in the stricken zones to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases, according to Geeta Pasi, the top U.S. diplomat in Dhaka.