US team to visit tsunami-hit nations

A team led by Colin Powell will travel to Asia to assess the need for further aid.

US President George W Bush has announced that a delegation of experts led by Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel to Asia on Sunday to assess the need for further US assistance.

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The Bush administration also lent its support to a European-hosted international conference, designed to accelerate pledges of assistance to victims of the Asian and African tsunamis. It also added the United Nations to a four-nation coalition organising humanitarian relief.

"All Americans are shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of life and the destruction around the Indian Ocean," Bush said in a statement on Thursday by White House Deputy Press Secretary Trent Duffy in Crawford, Texas, where the President is staying. "To coordinate this massive relief effort, first-hand assessments are needed by individuals on the ground."

To further assess the need for US support, Bush said, the delegation of experts, including his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, will travel to the region. Duffy said including the President's brother, who has experience with extensive hurricane damage in Florida, "signifies the high level of importance that the President puts on this delegation."

Responding to persistent criticism that US pledges have been slow to materialise and deliveries of aid not fast enough, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher ticked off a string of relief flights and declared: "Any implication we are not leading the way is wrong."

"Our effort is strong and it is active," Boucher said at a State Department briefing in Washington.