Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard (right) meets defense personnel at the Disaster Centre in Townsville, Australia. -- PHOTO: AP
TULLY - AUSTRALIA on Friday sent in 4,000 troops to help coastal towns left splintered by a monster cyclone, as officials urged stranded victims to stay calm until help arrives.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the deployment - the biggest military deployment at home in more than 30 years - would aid north Queensland's recovery after the category five storm roared into the state Thursday.
'It's a very big deployment,' she said. Canberra mobilised 1,500 soldiers in January to help clean up after floods devastated the state capital Brisbane and surrounding areas, killing more than 30 people, the biggest deployment for a natural disaster since 1974.
The announcement came amid reports of looting following the storm, and following the first death linked to Yasi: A young man who suffocated on fumes from a generator running in an enclosed space.
The biggest storm to hit Australia in a century brought huge damage to small coastal communities, cutting some of them off completely. But while two men were reported missing, there were no confirmed deaths caused directly by Yasi.
Hundreds of rescuers were cutting their way through fallen trees, power lines and wreckage to reach towns pummelled by the category five cyclone, while tens of thousands languished without power, water or communications. -- AFP
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