March 12, 2011 6:37 PM EST
Assistance in the form of food and equipment has started to arrive in earthquake-and tsunami-battered Japan from the U.S.
Search and rescue teams are expected to reach Japan by tomorrow.
The U.S. military assistance operation is being called Operation Tomodachi, or "friendship.”
U.S. Forces Japan, which is based at the Yokota Air Base near Tokyo, is serving as the lead military command for coordinating the assistance.
Yokota is also being used as an alternate airfield for planed that cannot land at Tokyo's Narita Airport. The air base is also providing food and shelter for displaced Japanese.
The Japanese government said it has received offers of help from more than four dozen nations around the globe, including the U.S., U.K. China and the European Union.
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U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed his assistance for Japan.
"I offer our Japanese friends whatever assistance is needed," he said. "[These] events remind us how fragile life can be."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also offered "immediate disaster relief assistance."
Two U. S. destroyers, the USS McCampbell and USS Curtis Wilbur, stationed off the Boso Peninsula, are preparing "to assist Japanese authorities with providing at-sea search and rescue and recovery operations," the 7th Fleet said.
The U.S. 7th Fleet is headquartered in Yokosuka, near Tokyo.
At least eight other U.S. warships are on their way to Japan from various locales and will arrive on Sunday or later in the week, according to the 7th Fleet.
Three ships from the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group are among the eight ships.
"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," the U.S. military said.
In addition, the III Marine Expeditionary Force, which is Okinawa, south of Japan, said it is "prepositioning forces and supplies in support of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations."
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