Medical response team members from USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) strap into their seats aboard a CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopter. They will be taken into Bangladesh along with six pallets of purified water. Kearsarge and embarked 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (special operations capable) are conducting humanitarian assistance/disaster relief efforts in response to the government of Bangladesh's request for assistance after Tropical Cyclone Sidr struck their southern coast. The storm killed over 3,000 people and has left several hundred thousand homeless. The Department of Defense effort is part of a larger United States response coordinated by the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development.