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Show Sunday, January 2, 2005 DAILY HERALD A9 U.S. detection prepays Mp to tsimaM Deb Riechmann , THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MilCRAWFORD, Texas itary helicopter ferried disaster supplies into South Asia on Sat- , urday as a U.S. delegation prepared for its trip to the region to get a close-u- p look at the devastation and determine what more this country can do to help. "The carnage is of a scale that defies comprehension," President Bush, giving his weekly radio address, said of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis that have killed ' more than 123,000 people. Secretary of State Colin Powell and the president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, are leading the team of experts to the region. The delegation's itinerary has not been finalized, but Bush wr. martin- wants officials to meet with regional leaders and international organizations and report back on what additional assistance the United States can provide. i j,, ANDY EAMESAssociated Press member gives the thumbs up for a Seahawk helicopter to depart to the tsunami ravaged Indonesian province ofAceh off its northern coast on Saturday. The U.S. military launched its largest operation in the region since the Vietnam War, ferrying food and other emergency relief to survivors across the disaster zone. A USS Abraham Lincoln crew "We will be coordinating the stops with the countries involved so as not to disrupt relief operations," State Department spokes: man Lou Fintor said Saturday. Powell discussed relief opera- tions Saturday with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Fintor said. U.N. Secretary-Gener- Kofi Annan also is making a factfinding trip to the region, it was learned Saturday. Having substantially in- creased its disaster assistance ; Tsunami Continued from A 1 U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan decided to visit Indonesia, the hardest-hi- t nation, where the official death toll stood at more than 80,000, but officials said it could reach 100,000. Annan will attend a conference Thursday in Jakarta on organizing relief. "We mourn, we cry, and our hearts -- weep to witness thousands of victims sprawled everywhere," said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang touring the damage on Sumatra island, which bore the brunt of both the quake and the waves. Hungry Indonesians welcomed a dozen American Seahawk helicopters sent from the USS Abraham Lincoln'as they landed in Banda Aceh and other Yud-hoyon- o, to $350 million, the Bush administration is focused on the logistics of getting clean water, food and other supplies to people and rebuilding t heir lives helping to bury the dead. parts of Sumatra island's devastated northwest coast, bringing relief supplies including temporary shelters. Also, a flotilla of cargo planes carrying Marines and water purifying equipment headed to Sri Lanka. A day after President Bush upped the U.S. pledge to $350 million, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced Saturday that his country would contribute up to $500 million to relief efforts. At one refugee camp on the grounds of the airport of Banda Aceh, hundreds of people spent a wet night shivering under plastic sheets. Mothers nursed babies while others tried to light a fire with damp matches. "With no help, we will die," said a Syaputra. "We came here because we heard that we could get food, but it was nonsense. All I got was some In-dr- "The task they face is difficult," said Bush, who issued a proclamation calling for U.S. flags to be flown at half-stathis week in honor of the dead. "Their relief resources are packets of noodles." The rains pummeling the corpse-littere- d city were creating the conditions for cholera and other waterborne diseases to spread. Boxes of aid at Banda Aceh's airport soaked up water, making it difficult for workers loading cartons of water, crackers and noodles onto delivery vehicles. More amazing stories of survival emerged. The Indonesian Reel Cross in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, reportedly dug out a s irvivor from the ruins of a house where he had been buried since the tsunarri struck. The rescuers heard Ichsan Azmil's cries for help. After he was pulled out Friday, he asked for water and was taken to a hospital for treatment of cuts and bruises. On India's remote Andaman and ff stretched nearly to the limit," he said. "Communications, roads and medical facilities have been badly damaged. Disease has become a very real threat." Bush's decision to increase the aid came amid mounting criticism that the United States was slow to respond and publicly express condolences. "Clearly, our first step forward was not sufficient," said P.J. Crowley, a retired colonel . who served as a Pentagon spokesman in both Republican and Democratic administrations and was a White House national security aide in the Clinton administration. "This is an event of literally epic proportions, and for the White House to take 72 hours before the president was visible on this, 1 think was a mistake." Crowley said the disaster offers the administration a chance to improve U.S. relations with the Islamic world, where sentiment has been on the rise since the Iraq war. Indonesia, one of the countries hardest hit by the tsunamis, has the world's largest Muslim population. "Indonesia is one of those has countries where been active," Crowley said. "It is in our long-terinterest to Nicobar islands, a woman who fled the killer waves gave birth Monday in the forest that became her sanctuary. She named her son "Tsunami." Even art became part of the folklore Several roads leading to Ampara one of the hardest hit towns were flooded, preventing relief trucks from arriving, said Neville Wijesinghe, a senior police officer. Bureaucratic delays, fuel shortages, impassable roads and long distances also blocked supplies. In addition to the deaths, 5 million people were homeless. The hunt for loved ones dragged on with tens of thousands still missing. Among the missing were some 3,500 Swedes and 1,000 Germans, and hundreds of others from Scandinavia, Italy and Belgium. Aftershocks rattled the region, sending panicked Sumatrans into the streets. Geologists said a 6.5 quake rattled Sumatra at 1:25 p.m. (1:25 a.m. EST), centered 155 miles southwest of Banda Aceh. Smaller quakes hit West Java and southern Sumatra earlier. -- of resilience. In the historic port town of Galle, Sri Lanka, several Buddha statues of cement and plaster were found unscathed amid collapsed brick walls in the center of the devastated city. To many residents, it was a divine sign. "The people are not living according to religious virtues," said Sumana, a Buddhist monk in an orange robe who sheltered himself from the sun under a black umbrella. In eastern Sri Lanka, flash floods forced the evacuation of about 2,000 people already displaced by a tsunami that killed nearly 29,000 people on the tropical island. develop an even stronger relationship with Indonesia and other countries in the region. We should look at this within the prism of the war on terror, and if we fail to respond effectively, it will be an opportunity lost." David L. Phillips, vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations, a private world affairs group, said a successful U.S. aid effort could take the sentiedge off of ment in the region. "The president of Indonesia said to the president very early on after Sept. 11 that she was going to work with him, but American popularity in Indonesia has plummeted," Phillips said. "If we're seen as being generous and playing a role in helping Indonesia deal with this, it buys some political space, some political cushion for the president of Indonesia to help Bush with the war on terror." To help the survivors, the U.S. military has launched one of its largest disaster relief mis-- , sions in history. At the same time, Canada and the Netherlands have joined a core group that the United States formed earlier this week with India, Japan and Australia to help coordinate relief efforts vith the JUnited Nations. . 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