Remarks Outside of Sri Lankan Embassy After Signing Condolence Book

SECRETARY POWELL: Expressed our sympathy and extend our deepest condolences on behalf of President and Mrs. Bush and the American people to all Sri Lankans, and to let the Government of Sri Lanka and all Sri Lankans know that we will stand with them in solidarity and do everything we can to assist in this time of tragedy, in this time of need.

This has been a very serious blow to Sri Lanka and the need is great, and we will be working with the international community to respond to that need. So we have disaster relief teams on the scenes. Supplies are being flown in from around the world, to include from the United States. We have rescue teams on the way. We have made an initial allocation of funds, but as the need becomes better known and established, you can expect that the United States will add more to the funds that we have already provided.

It's important that we do this right, deal with the initial humanitarian tragedy and help people who are in desperate need now, but don't lose sight of the need for rehabilitation, reconstruction of homes and businesses and the economy later on.

So we will be standing along with our Sri Lankan friends for the long haul in order to deal with this tragedy. It is a rather unprecedented catastrophe. I've been through many similar situations in my career, but none as serious as this one.

QUESTION: Would it help to get a firsthand look, if you wanted --

SECRETARY POWELL: We're examining -- we're examining how best to make our assessment. Yes.

Thank you.

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