Britain to do 'all it can' to help US

Monday, 5 September 2005 12:00 AM

Britain will do anything it can to help with the "huge catastrophe" caused by Hurricane Katrina in the US, Tony Blair said today.

The prime minister was speaking as the UK announced it would be sending 500,000 military ration packs aid to the United States for the relief effort.

More than 10,000 people are feared to have died since the hurricane hit southern states last weekend, while more than one million Americans are said to have been uprooted from their homes across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Following a request for help by the US government yesterday, Britain will tomorrow begin sending over the first of military ration packs and is also looking at providing other relief items, such as blankets and camp beds.

In addition, the UK as holder of the EU presidency is coordinating the response of the other EU states to disaster. They will be sending medical teams, water purification units, blankets and specialist personnel.

"It is a huge catastrophe and as I say, I don't think people really contemplated it was going to be as devastating in its consequences," Mr Blair told Today.

The prime minister added that the whole effort had been "geared up dramatically in the last few days" and he said he thought the important thing was for everyone to say "anything we can do to help we will".

Mr Blair defended the work done by British embassy staff to help Britons caught up in the disaster, saying he was "really sorry" that some of those people had felt abandoned by British officials and left to fend for themselves.

"I'm really sorry if people feel like that and I know it's been very tough for people out there," he said.

"It's also been very hard for the officials because although there was a team that's been working for the past few days, it's only overnight we've actually got people into New Orleans."

There are currently 130 Britons still unaccounted for, but foreign office minister Lord Triesman said it was unlikely all those missing were among the casualties.

"About half of them are safe, thank God, no-one that we know of has been killed and we think that no one is really seriously injured, but who can tell in these circumstances?" he told Sky News.

"I just pray that no one has been killed, but in a disaster like this no one can be certain."

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