charities of some money for extra funding for charities to of some money for extra funding for charities to help veterans with their charities to help veterans with their mental health, because thousands and thousands of service personnel thousands and thousands of service personnel served in afghanistan over the last personnel served in afghanistan over the last 20 personnel served in afghanistan over the last 20 years, and some of them are having the last 20 years, and some of them are having quite serious problems as are having quite serious problems as a result are having quite serious problems as a result. then you ve got this huge list of a result. then you ve got this huge list of things the government is going list of things the government is going to list of things the government is going to have to do in the next few months going to have to do in the next few months. this week you are probably going months. this week you are probably going to months. th
meanwhile, officials say the number of people killed by the quake and tsunami could exceed 15,000. nbc s ian williams has the latest from the fishing port. reporter: the death toll from this disaster keeps rising. more than 8,000 according to the latest official figures with at least 12,000 missing. hundreds of thousands have been displaced and in many areas there is still a shortage of food, water, medicine and fuel. the u.s. is stepping up its own relief efforts while at the same time trying to reassure the families of service personnel thousands of whom are being evacuated under a voluntary departure program. i don t want my sweeties to go but we want them to be in a safer place than what s here. reporter: it all represents an unprecedented challenge for the u.s. military. if someone said we re going to give you an exercise and we re going to throw an earthquake at you, we re going to throw a tsunami at you, we re