they are in the battered area of misawa. they have come from the local u.s.e from the air force and army, as well as civilians working there. >> reporter: the damage along this part of the coast was patchy. they are luckier than some areas. at least there is something left to clean up. further south entire communities have been wiped from the map. the u.s. has offered to help in every way they can. as survivors face shortages of food, water, medicine and cooking oil. >> if someone said we are going to throw an earthquake and a tsunami at you and a nuclear reactor at you, we would say stop, it's never realistic and here we are dealing with it. >> reporter: while at the same time, evacuating shaken personnel and 1,700 at the misawa base alone. >> it is because one the nuclear thing. i'm a little concerned there. two, my family is freaking out. >> reporter: this man was preparing to leaf, leaving behind his active-duty wife and his 10-month-old daughter. >> i know they will be in a safer place. and that is all that matters right now. >> reporter: and yet for tho

air base, the misawa air base in northern japan, a main hub of the relief effort, and he filed a late report for us from there tonight. >> reporter: brian, this american air base has become a key staging post now working round the clock to ferry relief supplies by helicopter to the devastated coastal regions to the south of here. hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the tsunami, and are in urgent need of blankets, food, water and basic medicine. their plight has been compounded by bitterly cold weather and snow, which has swept across this region and also made aid delivery more difficult. aid agencies worry that the threat of disaster at the crippled fukushima nuclear plant is diverting attention away from the humanitarian crisis. it's also become a factor in planning the relief operation, since it's placed many areas off limits. that said, u.s. officials say they're ready to help in any way they can to dramatically step up their operations if requested by japan. brian. >> ian williams in northern japan as our coverage of this will continue. that's our broadcast for