The U.S. military will deploy two helicopters to Ishikawa Prefecture’s earthquake-hit Noto Peninsula to help with relief operations, the U.S. ambassador to Japan said Tuesday, as snow and freezing temperatures continued to bog down the aid effort.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told a news conference earlier Tuesday that Tokyo had asked the U.S. military for assistance and that starting Wednesday the U.S. would join some 7,000 Self-Defense Force troops already taking part in relief operations.
“The SDF is currently doing its utmost to transport secondary evacuees,” Kihara said. “However, due to the significant increase in the SDF's mission ... we have requested assistance from U.S. Forces in Japan in order to continue the transport of supplies that the SDF has been carrying out without interruption.”