Tsunami Aid Efforts Gain Momentum

Military logistics "are as valuable as cash or gold," he said.

The U.N. official said the outpouring of global support was unprecedented.

"International compassion has never been like this," Egeland said, adding that the pledges for last week's disasters topped all the aid received by the United Nations in 2004 for the 20 top crises in the world combined.

In Washington, the State Department said the dead included 15 Americans, eight in Thailand and seven in Sri Lanka, although officials feared that the number would rise.

Officials have been unable to assess numbers of missing or injured Americans, but the State Department said it had received 6,000 calls to a hotline set up last Sunday, said Lou Fintor, a department spokesman.

UNDP official Asplund said that the survivors in Banda Aceh were largely in shock, and there were still many bodies strewn around the area.

"Banda Aceh is totally silent. You hear nothing and see nobody."

Egeland said the death toll would probably rise. "I am sure it will be higher than that, but I am also sure we will never know how many people were washed to sea and will never, ever be found," he said. The Indonesian government has said that it can no longer keep track of the casualties.

Bush's order to lower flags was the fourth straight day that he has taken some high-profile action after being criticized earlier in the week for responding too slowly and offering too little in relief funds.

The president is wrapping up an eight-day vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and is scheduled to return to the White House this afternoon. The tsunami struck the day Bush arrived here, but he did not speak directly about the crisis until Wednesday.

In his Saturday radio address, Bush offered additional reassurances of sustained U.S. assistance.

"As the people of this devastated region struggle to recover, we offer our love and compassion, and our assurance that America will be there to help." On Friday, the president increased U.S. aid from $35 million to $350 million.

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Pentagon mission

A huge U.S. military disaster relief mission is underway in tsunami-ravaged areas. Additional help is en route from military facilities at Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, and Guam, in the Pacific. Among the efforts:

1. An aircraft carrier battle group three miles off Aceh province, Sumatra,is ferrying in supplies and evacuating casualties from villages in a 120-mile stretch south of Banda Aceh.