By Jamie Huish
The United States will accept humanitarian aid from the international community to alleviate destruction left by Hurricane Katrina, the United Nations announced Sunday.
?The U.N.?s coordination team in Washington will be based at the newly established USAID Hurricane Katrina Operations Center, where offers of international assistance are being coordinated,? a U.N. spokesman said in a statement released Sunday in New York.
The United States Agency for International Development established a center in Arlington, Va. especially to command and direct hurricane relief operations.
The United Nations mobilized three teams Tuesday to begin the recovery process and expects to deploy more teams within the next few days, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Government officials are currently consulting with a U.N. coordination team in Washington D.C. to determine how the United Nations can complement the relief efforts already begun by the United States.
Teams will provide all types of humanitarian aid from food supplies to helping lost children, drawing from agencies such as the U.N. Children?s Fund and the World Food Programme.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs chaired an interagency task force that met to assess resources available for the relief effort, according to Marie Okabe, deputy spokesperson for the secretary-general in a briefing at U.N. headquarters Friday. The United Nations has decided it can provide water storage tanks, planes, tents, generators, food supplies and experienced personnel to deal with the disaster.
They 'are ready to provide emergency staff and a wide variety of relief supplies as and when necessary,' the U.N. statement said.
Accepting the United Nations? offer puts the United States on the receiving end of humanitarian aid, as opposed to providing it. The United States received offers of assistance from Russia, Japan, France, Honduras, Australia, the United Kingdom and many other countries.
?No offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted area will be refused,? State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan offered sympathy and support to the United States in a statement Thursday. He recognized American relief efforts in many parts of the world and offered help as Americans suffered a severe crisis.
?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 U.S. relief organizations who have been our partners in the past,? he said.