Bush pledges US to lead international assistance to victims

WASHINGTON -- As a US naval armada began steaming to the region, President Bush yesterday pledged to lead a coordinated international effort to help tsunami-stricken Asia, and said initial US aid of $35 million would be ''only just the beginning" of a long-term response to one of the worst natural disasters in history.

Bush announced that a four-nation coalition, comprising the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, will spearhead the relief efforts and help the hardest-hit countries assess the full scale of the destruction that killed at least 76,000 people, washed away large swaths of the Indian Ocean's coastal areas, and now poses health risks of epidemic proportions.

''We are committed to helping the affected countries in the difficult weeks and months that lie ahead," Bush said from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where earlier in the day he spoke with the leaders of India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia.

''These past few days have brought loss and grief to the world that is beyond our comprehension," he said. ''The United States will continue to stand with the affected governments as they care for the victims. We will stand with them as they start to rebuild their communities. And together the world will cope with their loss."

Making his first public appearance since an underwater earthquake created the deadly tidal surges on Sunday, Bush also dismissed charges that the United States had not responded generously enough, saying that critics were ''misguided and ill-informed."

He noted that the US government donated $2.4 billion in humanitarian aid last year -- 40 percent of the world total -- not including private gifts.

So far, the US government has committed $35 million to help US relief agencies respond to the tsunami damage and to determine what more will be needed.

Other officials defended the speed of the US response, saying that federal agencies pulled together within hours of the disaster and stressing that prudent planning was necessary to avoid making the situation worse.

''You don't just send people in two hours," Andrew Natsios, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, told reporters in Washington. ''You begin mobilizing. You start the planning. We did that on Sunday."

The United States Pacific Command, based in Honolulu, yesterday dispatched three naval task forces to the region, from Guam in the western Pacific, Hong Kong, and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, including 2,100 Marines and dozens of helicopters and surveillance aircraft, Lieutenant General James T. Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

''We're going to take this now to a new level," said Marc Grossman, undersecretary of state for political affairs, who was tapped by Bush yesterday to coordinate the US response. He said the relief effort amounts to ''a gigantic international requirement."

Bush urged US citizens who want to assist the relief efforts to make cash donations to private relief agencies rather than donate blankets or food, which would take too long to reach the most needy survivors and would be costly to ship.

''In this case I think it's very important for Americans who want to give to provide cash to organizations that will be able to focus resources and assets to meet the specific needs," he said.

An outpouring of donations to private charities has generated tens of millions of dollars so far in US assistance. As of Wednesday night, the American Red Cross reported raising $18 million in donations since the first reports of the quake.

Even smaller groups reported raising almost a million dollars in a single day. ''We have raised over $750,000 on the website alone, most of it in the last day," said Karen Moul at Catholic Relief Services. ''We had so many hits that the website went down for part of yesterday."

Adrienne Smith of Oxfam said the group raised $500,000 from US donors in 24 hours on Tuesday. ''It's climbing every day, every minute really," she said.

Ashley Cross, a spokeswoman for AmeriCares, which expected to raise more than $2 million as of yesterday, added: ''Our response from the public in terms of their outpouring has been tremendous. The phones are ringing off the hook and thousands upon thousands have visited our website with very generous donations."

Due to the disaster, calls grew yesterday for a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean like one that now exists among Pacific nations. US officials who monitored Sunday's quake had no formal process to warn nations that might be in the path of the deadly tsunamis.

''There is no reason why this cannot be done," said Salvano Briceno, director of the secretariat of the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, who predicted it could be in place by the end of 2005.

''We have been in contact with UN agencies, technical institutions, and governments in the region affected, and find that there is a strong basis of knowledge, technology, and collaboration and a real readiness to act," Briceno added.

Bush also said that ''clearly there wasn't a proper warning system in place for that part of the world" and ''it seems like to me it makes sense for the world to come together to develop a warning system that will help all nations."

Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com