MINAMIASO, japan — U.S. airlifts delivered water, bread, ready-to-eat food and other emergency supplies Monday to a remote area of southern Japan stricken by two powerful earthquakes, as rescuers searched for nine people still reported missing.

Authorities said at least 42 people died and more than 1,000 were injured in the quakes Thursday and early Saturday.

The flights by two MV-22 Ospreys were a gesture of cooperation between the two allies and a chance for the U.S. military to demonstrate the utility of the tilt-rotor aircraft, whose deployment has raised controversy in Japan because of safety concerns.

Minamiaso, a town of 12,000 on the southern island of Kyushu, was partly cut off by landslides and road and bridge damage. Residents there marked their location with chairs aligned in a giant SOS while awaiting the U.S. relief flights, which also delivered tents and portable toilets and waste treatment kits.

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