The United States through its Agency for International Development has made a massive effort to rush relief supplies to the devastated area of East Pakistan which was hit by the typhoon and tidal wave in mid-November. USAID, along with other U.S. voluntary agencies, donated food, clothing, medicine, blankets, water purification tablets and personal hygiene kits. This rice has been carried by modern trucks and helicopters to remote areas of the Delta, but the last leg of its journey is often by this centuries-old method.