A number of countries sent large contingents of disaster relief, medical staff, technicians for reconstruction and security personnel. Notably, the governments of the United States, the UK, Israel, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Brazil, Italy and Cuba[3] sent over 1,000 military and disaster relief personnel each, with the United States being by far the largest single contributor to the relief efforts. The international community also committed numerous major assets such as field hospitals, naval vessels, a hospital ship, aircraft carriers, transport aircraft and emergency facilities soon after the extent of the disaster became apparent.
Progress in responding to the almost unprecedented scale of disaster was hampered by numerous factors, including major loss of life, multiple large