The Bush administration, long critical of the United Nations, has accepted a UN offer of help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and a UN team has gone to Washington to see how it can complement American efforts.
The United Nations on Sunday announced the United States had accepted its aid offer and said its staff will be based at the USAID Hurricane Operations Center, where international assistance is being coordinated.
UN officials, often criticized by Republicans in Washington, said the world body's teams could be useful in coordinating and setting priorities for foreign aid offers.
They "are ready to provide emergency staff and a wide variety of relief supplies as and when necessary," the UN statement said.
On Friday Secretary-General Kofi Annan told President George Bush that a UN task force was at work in anticipation of US requests for assistance and expertise.
The task force found that UN agencies could supply water storage tanks, water purification tablets, high energy biscuits, generators, planes, tents and other emergency supplies as well as experienced staff members, UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
She said that the United Nations had disaster teams trained to evaluate needs and coordinate aid, including over 100 experts specializing in floods and earthquakes. The United Nations sent five teams to the Indian Ocean area in December after the earthquake-caused tsunami and flooding.
Annan last week issued a statement offering the United States "any assistance that the United Nations can give."
"We will be happy to work with other parts of the international community to support the efforts of President Bush and his administration, the American Red Cross, and other US relief organisations who have been our partners in the past," Annan said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs known as OCHA, is chairing the task force, which includes the World Food Program, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
In a reversal, the United States, a major world donor itself, last week let it be known it would accept help from a variety of nations.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has decided "no offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted area will be refused," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Thursday.
Some 60 nations have offered help, from longtime American friends such as Japan, Germany, Canada, France and Britain as well as Cuban President Fidel Castro, who is willing to donate doctors and medicine and the Venezuelan government, frequently criticized by the Bush administration.
International organisations and religious institutions also offered help ranging from medical teams to tents to cash donations. They include NATO, the Organisation of American States, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organisation, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Socities and Cor Unum, the Vatican's central charity organisation. The United Nations has offered to help coordinate international relief.
Donations for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort can be made to the New Zealand Red Cross on 0800 733 276, or through The Salvation Army on 0800 530 000.
