U.S. Joins U.N. in Sorting Out How to Distribute Donations

The United States, the United Nations and other countries scrambled yesterday to figure out how to translate the outpouring of official aid and private donations into relief for millions of people often half a world away in Asia's tsunami disaster zone. A U.S. military official expressed growing concern about a "tyranny of distance" that is delaying relief.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of President Bush, will travel to the region Sunday for talks with Asian leaders and relief groups, to get firsthand assessments and to determine what additional U.S. aid is needed, the White House announced late yesterday.

Powell also plans to meet today in New York with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and an international conference is likely to be held next week to discuss how to accelerate and coordinate aid, U.S. officials said yesterday. In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Powell said the international response would almost certainly have to be "a multiyear effort" that will include long-term reconstruction of Asian economies as well as immediate humanitarian relief.

Annan, who returned from vacation to head up the relief effort, said yesterday that the scope of the disaster, which spans a dozen countries, is straining the world body's ability to cope. "We are going to be stretched," he said. ". . . And it is conceivable that one may not be able to fulfill every possible need of each of the countries and each of the coastal villages that have been destroyed."

Annan also said: "This is an unprecedented global catastrophe, and it requires an unprecedented global response. . . . The latest figures speak for themselves. At least 115,000 are dead in the region. Half a million injured, 1 million displaced and at least 5 million in need of immediate assistance."

Although U.S. aid has begun to arrive, the United States faces difficulty in reaching victims. "One of the problems we're going to have is can we get this material distributed when it arrives, because people are in very remote areas," Powell said on ABC's "Nightline" yesterday.

U.S. military ships carrying a wide variety of things including rescue helicopters and water-purification equipment face a "tyranny of distance," said Lt. Col. William Bigelow of the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. It will be several days before thousands of U.S. military personnel arrive in the worst-affected countries, and even longer before they can begin relief operations, he said.

"Even at full speed, you're talking at least four days, if not longer, just to get into a position to operate from," he said. So far, there are 500 U.S. military workers, mostly from Japan, in Thailand setting up a command and control center and working with governments and aid agencies there. Thousands more will join the effort when an aircraft carrier and other vessels arrive from as far away as Guam. Twenty military workers on forensic pathology teams left Hawaii yesterday for Thailand.

"The effort will continue to grow as the scope of the disaster continues to grow," Bigelow said. "But there are finite resources for infinite problems."

Powell and Annan conducted a video conference yesterday to discuss how to deal with bottlenecks such as a lack of aircraft, as aid commitments exceeded more than $500 million, including $250 million from the World Bank. The United Nations is planning to ask for at least "hundreds of millions" more to cover the costs of the relief effort over the next six months, said Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator.

The United States rejected criticism of its $35 million contribution thus far. Yesterday, Britain pledged $96 million, Sweden $75 million and France $57 million.

Powell blasted the news media for trying to convert aid donations into a contest and said large additional U.S. contributions would be forthcoming.

"It may well be billions," Powell said on "Nightline." "What we have to do is make a needs assessment and not just grasp at numbers or think we're in some kind of an auction house where every day somebody has to top someone else."

In just one example of the problems of distribution, the United Nations is struggling to channel aid into the hardest-hit areas in northern Sumatra and the Indonesian island of Aceh, where tens of thousands of people have died, and to reach victims on other remote islands, Egeland said.

"There are many fishing boats, fishermen, fishing villages that we will never, ever hear about," he said. "Along the Sumatra and Aceh coast, there are many communities where we haven't been able to visit yet."

Egeland said that he had discussions with the United States and Indonesia about setting up an air-freight supply hub in Aceh to handle the many goods reaching the island. He has also initiated talks with the United States, India, Australia and Japan about providing helicopters to transport relief officials.

He said that the United Nations will build a camp there for 90 relief workers to handle the incoming supplies. Fifty relief supply trucks were to arrive in Aceh yesterday, and five airplanes are scheduled to arrive today. "We need more logistical capabilities," he said.

Countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Persian Gulf region and Asia that rarely donate to U.N. relief campaigns have been contributing to the tsunami effort. "I mean, East Timor gives $50,000. It's one of the poorest countries on the earth," Egeland said. "And the Islamic world is coming really to the relief of the tsunami victims."

Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of Refugees International, said that the "most life-threatening gap" in the relief effort is the shortage of clean water over the next week. Seven water-producing naval ships headed to the region will not arrive for four to 11 days, leaving it to local authorities and the United Nations to meet needs.

"It's far too massive for them to handle," he said. "I have an uneasy feeling about water. I see nothing that shows what is in the pipeline in a serious way to go out to the region." Rosenblatt also said that Annan should send a senior, world-renowned figure to the region to help coordinate with the U.S. military and other efforts on the ground.

James T. Morris, the executive director of the World Food Program, appealed to the United States, Japan, Australia and India to provide cargo aircraft and helicopters to speed the delivery of food and other essential supplies. "We have a critical need for airplanes and helicopters given the wide geographic expanse and difficult terrain -- we would be very grateful if countries were able to urgently help us meet our air transport needs."

Annan said that the United Nations would take the lead in organizing the humanitarian effort. U.N. officials met with the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and private relief groups to divide responsibilities.

"It is now actually pretty clear who should bring water to Aceh, who should concentrate on medicine, medical facilities in Aceh, who should bring the food to Aceh, who will do the tent camp for everybody here, and who will do the logistics at the airport," Egeland said.

Lynch reported from the United Nations. Staff writer Dafna Linzer contributed to this report.