US response: US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice defended President Bush yesterday against charges that the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina showed racial insensitivity.
"Nobody, especially the president, would have left people unattended on the basis of race," the administration's highest-ranking black said as she toured damaged parts of her native Alabama.
Some black lawmakers have complained bitterly about the slow response to the disaster, whose victims have been disproportionately black and poor, particularly in New Orleans. They have said racial injustice was a factor in the government's slow relief effort.
"I just hope that when people stop and think about it, they will just see that that's just not the case," Dr Rice said. "How can that be the case? Americans don't want to see Americans suffer."
An estimated 70 nations, from Azerbaijan to Venezuela, have offered more than $100 million (€54 million) in cash donations to the American Red Cross, Dr Rice said.
After outlining the influx of international support, Dr Rice said she had told Mr Bush, "If there's anything I can do outside of my responsibilities as secretary of state, I'd be happy to do that too." She visited a community centre in the ravaged Bayou La Batre in Alabama.
Flood waters following Katrina reached 11ft (3.3m) in the area, about 718,000 homes and businesses in Mobile, 45 miles (72km) away, were left without power for days, and at least two people died. - (AP)