US military flew 188 tons of aid to storm-battered Sri Lanka
By WYATT OLSON STARS AND STRIPES •
January 8, 2026 American and Sri Lankan personnel offload humanitarian relief supplies in Trichomalee,
Sri Lanka, Dec. 12, 2025. (Jacob Wood/U.S. Air Force)
U.S. military personnel delivered roughly 188 tons of relief supplies to Sri Lanka in the week following the devastating Cyclone Ditwah in late November, the Air Force said in a news release Tuesday. The U.S. rapidly deployed a pair of C-130J Super Hercules cargo planes from Yokota Air Base, Japan, that carried 70 personnel and relief supplies to aid hard-to-reach areas of the island nation off the southeast tip of India. Heavy rains from the cyclone caused flooding and mudslides after the storm made landfall on Nov. 27. As of Dec. 31, the disaster had displaced more than 205,000 people, damaged or destroyed almost 119,000 homes, killed 644 people and left 175 missing, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration.
Read more at:
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2026-01-07/sri-lankan-humanitarian-aid-ditwah-20336893.htmlSource - Stars and Stripes
