Common America - Another $650M
---------------------------------------------
U.S. Boosts Tsunami Aid Tenfold to $350M
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
CRAWFORD, Texas - The United States is pledging $350 million to help tsunami
victims, a tenfold increase over its first wave of aid, President Bush
announced Friday.
"Initial findings of American assessment teams on the ground indicate that
the need for financial and other assistance will steadily increase in the
days and weeks ahead," Bush said Friday in a statement released in Crawford,
Texas, where he is staying at his ranch.
"Our contributions will continue to be revised as the full effects of this
terrible tragedy become clearer," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are
with all those affected by this epic disaster."
Bush also is sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to Indian Ocean coastal
areas ravaged by earthquake and tsunami to assess what more the United
States needs to do. The president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will
travel with him.
The newly announced aid came after some critics claimed that the initial
U.S. contribution of $35 million was meager considering the vast wealth of
the nation.
France has promised $57 million, Britain has pledged $95 million, Sweden is
sending $75.5 million and Spain is offering $68 million, although that
pledge is partly in loans.
Powell was traveling to New York on Friday to discuss the crisis with U. N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Bush said disaster response officials are on the ground and the United
States has established a support center in Thailand that is in operation.
More than 20 patrol and cargo aircraft have been made available to assess
the disaster and deliver relief supplies, he said.
"Many of those aircraft are on the scene," Bush said.
The president said the United States has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS
Abraham Lincoln, a maritime squadron from Guam and an amphibious ship
carrying a Marine expeditionary unit. "They will soon be in position to
support relief efforts to include the generation of clean water," he said.
On Friday, the president spoke by phone with British Prime Minister Tony
Blair (news - web sites), Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Canadian
Prime Minister Paul Martin about the relief and recovery efforts and was
briefed by Powell and National Security Council officials on the efforts
under way.
White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy, who read the president's
statement to reporters on the phone, did not disclose details of where the
additional U.S. aid was being found in government coffers. He said, however,
that the administration was talking with congressional officials about
replenishing funds being used to back the tsunami aid pledge.
The president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has experience with
extensive hurricane damage in Florida, will travel with Powell overseas. A
congressional delegation headed by Rep. Jim Leach (news, bio, voting
record), R-Iowa, a former U.S. foreign service officer, is scheduled to
visit Thailand and Sri Lanka next week.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who often travels to blighted areas, said
Thursday he plans to visit India to try to help victims of tsunamis that
have left millions of people at risk of disease.
"I feel like I've been hit in the stomach," Frist, R-Tenn., said in an
e-mail to friends and supporters. "It is like 9/11 but so different. There
is no one to blame."
Andrew Natsios, chief of the U.S. Agency for International Development, said
his staff arrived in the stricken areas on Monday, and he stressed the
importance of assessing needs and organizing.
"This is a very complex operation," Natsios said Friday on CBS' "The Early
Show." "If it's not managed properly, we can actually slow down the relief
effort."
Canada was added Friday to a coalition of countries and organizations
planning relief efforts. Others are the United Nations, the United States,
Japan, India and Australia.
The U.S. death toll rose to 15, with eight dead in Thailand and seven in Sri
Lanka. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said some 600 Americans
who were listed as missing have been found, but several thousand had not
been located four days after the disaster struck.
In Sri Lanka, Boucher said, Americans have been showing up at U.S. consular
offices wearing bathing suits, with no money and no clothes.
With the global death toll continuing to rise, European governments
discussed holding an international donors conference Jan. 7.
Boucher said the United States would participate in any such gathering, but
he did not give details.
.
|
