TOKYO - The U.S. Embassy in Tokyo said Monday that U.S. Forces Japan had airlifted drinking water to quake-hit Kumamoto Prefecture the previous day, with its ambassador saying the country responded to a request from "our closest friend and ally."
"In times of crisis or calamity, the United States and Japan have always come to each other's assistance," U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass was quoted as saying in a statement put out by the embassy.
About 16 tons of drinking water had arrived at the Self-Defense Forces' Vice-Camp Takayubaru in Kumamoto Prefecture from U.S. Yokota Air Base in Tokyo, the Japanese Defense Ministry said Sunday.
It was then transported by the SDF by land to places storing supplies for residents affected by the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck the prefecture on July 28.
Glass, who visited Kumamoto on Sunday, confirmed the handover of the relief supplies to the SDF at the camp and met Kumamoto Gov. Takashi Kimura at the prefectural government building.
The U.S. forces' efforts follow those during the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes and the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake in central Japan.
