U.S. has received foreign aid commitments of 1 billion dollars

Washington (dpa) - Canadian divers are already in the filthy floodwaters of New Orleans, and Mexico has dispatched ships with helicopters.
These are just a few of an estimated 1 billion dollars in global commitments to help the U.S. as it struggles with its largest natural disaster ever - hurricane Katrina, which has demolished a large stretch of the Gulf Coast, put New Orleans under water and devastated the domestic oil industry.

The U.S. State Department has a round-the-clock desk matching the offers with needs, said Harry Thomas, coordinator for foreign aid -an unusual position, since aid usually flows the other way from the U.S. to the rest of the world.

Thomas dismissed charges that the U.S. government's complicated bureaucracy was slowing down the arrival of aid and that donor countries must wait unnecessarily long for their offers to be received.

He also asked for understanding. "It's something we have never done before,'' he said.

Army Lieutenant General Joseph Inge told reporters earlier that Canada already has divers in the water, and that Mexico was sending vessels with helicopter landing pads to help in the recovery.

Eleven planes with necessities had already landed from abroad in Little Rock, Arkansas, the main hub for aid arrivals, and another 11 would arrive in the coming three days from Britain, France, China, Russia, Spain and Israel, Thomas said.

Cash donations have already landed in the proper accounts and will be sent on to aid organizations such as the Red Cross as quickly as possible, he said.

The largest single donors are Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, each of which is giving 100 million dollars. Bosnia is sending 6,000 dollars, Afghanistan 100,000 dollars, Bangladesh 1 million dollars, and Sri Lanka - still recovering from its tsunami -25,000 dollars.

Venezuela, not on the best terms with the United States, was sending 1 million dollars to the Red Cross and state governments in the disaster area. Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela and an arch-enemy of the U.S., has offered a reported 1,000 physicians, which state department officials Tuesday said they would "take a look at''.

Cuba in the past has turned down U.S. offers of help after tropical storms and hurricanes.

A total of 12,000 U.S. doctors have already volunteered to serve in the disaster area, officials said.

The Netherlands, an expert nation in rebuilding levees, will be sending engineers to help rebuild New Orleans' broken flood dams, and Germany has sent special high-speed pumps.

"Americans over the decades have been generous in our helping hand to those around the world who have needed the assistance of the American people, and I think that it is a reflection of the goodwill that the United States has built up over those years that we see this tremendous outpouring of support for the American people,'' McCormack said Tuesday.

Other commitments have come from Armenia, Bahamas, Cyprus, Djibouti, Georgia, Hungary, the Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal and the Organization of American States, who are donating sums ranging from 5,000 to 100,000 dollars.

Azerbaijan, Australia, Bahrain, China, Gabon, India, Iraq, Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway and Saudi Arabia groups and Taiwan are down for half a million to 7.6 million dollars.

Belgium, Finland, France, Singapore, Thailand, and two U.N. organizations - the U.N. Disaster Assessment and Cooerdination Team and Logistics support, and the World Health Organization, are also sending teams, goods, and equipment to the disaster region.

Thomas said however that an offer of oil donations from Iran was attached to conditions that were not acceptable. Thomas denied reports that Sweden was waiting with a plane on the ground in Sweden for flight clearance in the U.S., and has not heard from Washington. dpa oe pr