BANGKOK, Jan. 4 -- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, on the first leg of a hastily arranged tour of countries devastated by the tsunami, said Monday that he would focus on assessing the progress of the relief effort and trying to inspire aid workers and survivors. Powell also said he did not expect to announce an increase in the $350 million in reconstruction assistance pledged by the United States.
"There is no shortage of money at the moment," Powell told reporters traveling with him to Thailand, pointing to the $2 billion pledged so far. "A lot of aid is now pouring in, but I think the real challenge will be the distribution of aid out of ports and off the airfields," he said.
Powell's trip was announced late last week after criticism that the Bush administration had reacted slowly to the crisis. Powell, still clearly angry at those charges, said that early reports on the disaster did not reflect the scope of the damage, which was spread across 12 countries. Other nations were quicker to provide large amounts of aid -- the U.S. first pledged $15 million -- and Japan has topped the U.S. amount with a pledge of $500 million.
"The reason I emphasize this is I don't think the American people should be given the impression that their president and government [were] not hard at work on this from day one," he said.
Powell, accompanied by one of President Bush's brothers, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, planned to visit the Phuket region where thousands of foreign tourists lost their lives. He also planned to get an update from the senior U.S. military commander responsible for the ships and 12,000 U.S. military personnel who are bringing fresh water and supplies to affected areas.
After meeting with Thai officials in Bangkok on Tuesday, Powell said the United States would provide expertise to help the region set up a system to warn of future tsunamis. The Thai foreign minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, said that an early warning system would cost $20 million but that "we are willing to invest."
Thai officials requested U.S. expertise on two other fronts: the restoration of beachfronts damaged by the tsunami and the identification of bodies through DNA analysis.
On Wednesday, Powell planned to travel to the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where more than 94,000 people were killed when waves wiped out entire villages.
Powell, who originally intended to spend two days in the region, decided to also represent the United States at a donors conference to be attended by a number of world leaders Thursday in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. He also added a stop on Friday in Sri Lanka, which, after Indonesia, suffered the greatest loss of life.
Powell said he wanted to avoid interfering with the relief effort throughout the trip. "Obviously, an additional plane is an additional plane. It takes up some time and energy and space," he said.
Gov. Bush, who has recently dealt with the aftermath of the hurricanes that hit Florida during August and September, said his role on the trip was to explore long-term needs and provide a morale boost as a personal representative of the president. "I think family matters in a lot of places outside the United States, just as it does in the United States," he said.
Andrew S. Natsios, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, who is also accompanying Powell, said the United States was committing $10 million to start an employment program for Sri Lankan survivors, mainly odd jobs clearing debris and beginning reconstruction. "Very small amounts of money in people's pockets . . . will get them moving," allowing them to buy necessities and remove reminders of the devastation, he said.
Powell said 15 Americans were confirmed dead in the disaster, with one Defense Department employee still missing. Relatives have reported 4,000 to 5,000 U.S. citizens missing, but Powell said he expected that number to drop as those believed missing were located. "We have been grinding this number down at a rate of several hundred a day," he said.
Correspondent Keith B. Richburg contributed to this report.
