(CNN) — The first wave of promised aid from the United States began arriving in Japan on Saturday in the wake of the devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami.
More aid — in the form of equipment, staffers and search-and-rescue teams — was expected to arrive Sunday.
In Shiroishi, a town near the area hardest hit by the quake, two SH-60 helicopters from U.S. Naval Air Facility Atsugi delivered 1,500 pounds of rice and bread donated by people in Ebina, southeast of Tokyo, the U.S. 7th Fleet, said in a statement Saturday. The fleet is headquartered in Yokosuka, just outside Tokyo.
Two destroyers, the USS McCampbell and USS Curtis Wilbur, were off Japan’s Boso Peninsula, which shelters Tokyo Bay, and were preparing to move into position “to assist Japanese authorities with providing at-sea search and rescue and recovery operations,” the 7th Fleet said.
An additional destroyer, the USS Mustin, will depart Yokosuka on Sunday. Eight other U.S. ships are en route to Japan from various locations, set to arrive Sunday or later in the week, according to the 7th Fleet. One, the USS Tortuga, departed Japan Saturday night to pick up two helicopters in South Korea before returning in about two days.
Three ships from the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group also are among the eight ships, the military said. “USS Ronald Reagan is prepared to serve as an afloat platform for refueling Japan Self Defense Force and other helicopters involved in rescue and recovery efforts ashore,” it said.