US reponse to Haiti disaster ginning up

As with the tsunami that laid waste to the islands of the Indian Ocean in 2004, the US Navy will most likely play a critical (maybe even central) role in the disaster relief efforts in Haiti. The picture above is of the US Coast Guard cutters alread on scene (courtesy of Danger Room). I was peeved today to read that China was the first nation to deploy disaster relief (reported here by the FT), but the bulk of the help on the way is coming from Norfolk, VA where a US aircraft carrier is underway for the Carribean. Check out Noah Shachtman's update on how the US military's relief efforts are ginning up: "Earthquake hit Haiti Still Offline; Military Relief Agencies Rush to Rebuild Comms."