Powell: U.S. values in action
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|  VIDEO |
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JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the United States is throwing its financial and military weight into southern Asian relief efforts not to gain favor in the Islamic world but because it's what Americans do.
The opportunity for Muslims to see "American values in action" is a welcome byproduct, he said.
"The United States is responding the way it is because this is a human catastrophe," the secretary said at a news conference after his arrival in Jakarta, Indonesia Tuesday.
"In my career in public service, I have never seen anything like this."
Powell said the United States has so far pledged $350 million for the relief -- and promises more if that's needed -- "because of the human dimensions of this catastrophe."
"And it turns out that a majority of those nations are Muslim nations," he said. "We'd be doing it if they weren't."
Washington also plans to double the number of U.S. military helicopters operating in the tsunami-stricken regions from 46 to more than 90. (Full story)
Indonesia, where Powell will attend a meeting of officials from countries affected by the tsunamis on Thursday, is the largest Muslim nation in the world and was the hardest hit by the December 26 earthquake and tsunamis.
"We are doing it regardless of religion," Powell said, "but I think it does give the Muslim world -- and the rest of the world -- an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action, where we care about the dignity of every individual and the worth of every individual." (Full story)
Meanwhile, a contingent of U.S. Marines has arrived in Sri Lanka, charged with Herculean humanitarian tasks left in the wake of last month's devastating tsunamis.
By Wednesday, between 900 and 1,200 Marines will be in Sri Lanka, along with heavy-lifting helicopters, bulldozers, generators and tonnes of food, water and medical supplies.
"Water will happen pretty fast," Brig. Gen. Frank Panter, told CNN. "We have bottled water. We also have reverse osmosis purification units."
Panter's Marines are bound for Sri Lanka's southern coast.
"We can remove some of the debris, bring water purification and medical support," the general said. "We've estimated, with the force load that we have planned, in about four days we can start making a significant impact."
The death toll from the December 26 earthquake and tsunamis, which shattered tourist resorts and seaside communities from Thailand to East Africa, has reached 155,000 -- a number the U.N.'s top emergency relief official says is not close to final.
"I've already said I thought it would be well above 150,000 total," said Jan Egeland. "How many tens of thousands more, we don't know."
Most of those additional "tens of thousands" will likely be found in two areas hit first by the gigantic waves that followed the magnitude 9 earthquake -- the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of the quake's epicenter, and India's Nicobar Islands, about 400 kilometers (300 miles) north.
Indonesian authorities have put the death toll there at 94,000 with thousands still missing. Hundreds of villages along the coast have vanished. All that remains are a few blocks or pieces of wood -- and in some cases a mosque, better built than other buildings.
Roads and bridges, too, are gone, making reaching the survivors -- who would have been forced to flee into the hills and mountains and rain forests beyond the coast -- all but impossible.
Aid packages for Indonesia come first to Medan, on the east coast, then northwest by airplane to Banda Aceh, the capital of the hardest hit province, Aceh.
From Banda Aceh, U.S. helicopters fly aid to survivors where they are found.
That process hit a snag early Tuesday when a commercial 737 cargo plane hit a water buffalo on the runway, damaging a landing gear and forcing the closure of the airport to fixed-wing aircraft for several hours.
U.S. Navy Capt. Matt Klunder told CNN that enough supplies were on hand that the snag did not hinder the relief effort, and eventually, Navy crewmen from the USS Lincoln and relief workers repaired the landing gear and helped pull the plane off the runway.
When the helicopters return to the airport, they usually bring a load of seriously injured people who have gone without medical care for 10 days.
The chopper pilots once took those victims directly to one of two functioning hospitals in the capital, but they have been ordered to stop because both facilities are overflowing with injured.
Now, officials said, the injured are being treated at a makeshift medical clinic at the airport.
Many of those less seriously injured are walking up the beach, subsisting on coconuts as they try to make their way to help.
"It's hard to say you've ever planned for anything on this magnitude, because, frankly, we haven't seen anything of this size before," said Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, at a Tuesday briefing held by the Department of Defense.
Fargo said he could not give a cost estimate for the relief effort.
"A lot of these costs, of course, have taken place already," he said. "I mean, a lot of these funds have already been expended for deployments to provide the presence and deterrence in the western Pacific. ...
"The American taxpayers made an investment in a very solid and robust military capability that has a wide range of uses. And we're demonstrating the value of that investment today."
Indian officials report that almost 6,000 people are missing on the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which run northward from Sumatra in the Bay of Bengal. Most of those -- more than 4,600 -- are missing from a single small island, Katchal.
India has experienced the same difficulties as Indonesia in reaching the remote islands, which are closer to Indonesia and Thailand than to their mother country. And, because they are islands, access is even more limited as few have any place to land an aircraft and the waves destroyed boat docks.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the world has donated or pledged more than $2 billion for the relief effort, and more will be needed.
He said he will launch a fresh appeal after Thursday's meeting of ASEAN countries.
CNN Correspondents Mike Chinoy in Aceh, Satinder Bindra in Sri Lanka, and Aneesh Raman contributed to this report.
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
