The Pentagon has spent $40 million on the Asian relief effort and estimates expending about $6 million daily to operate ships, helicopters, airplanes and other U.S. military assets, officials said on Thursday. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy has set sail from San Diego, California, to provide medical services to survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami, which killed close to 150,000 people, and will arrive in the region in about 30 days, according to U.S. Pacific Command. The Pentagon said operating costs for military assets in the region were estimated at $5 million to $6 million a day, including $2.4 million in personnel costs and $3.2 million for operating ships, aircraft and equipment. The most expensive items in the relief effort are operating the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and the helicopter carrier USS Bonhomme Richard and their groups of ships, officials said. Pacific Command said this week that operating a group like the one led by the Abraham Lincoln cost about $2.5 million a day. The U.S. military currently has about 1,300 military personnel on the ground, most in Thailand, for relief efforts, and another 12,000 aboard 17 Navy ships in the region, along with about 50 helicopters and about 40 cargo, reconnaissance and refueling airplanes, Pacific Command said. A U.S. Coast Guard ship also is part of the effort. --More 0008 Local Time 2108 GMT
