INDONESIA: Today's brief but high-level summit in the capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, will focus on rebuilding a devastated Asia.
The summit comes as the rapidly escalating US tsunami relief operation hits its most intense phase with military and medical personnel arriving in the hardest- hit areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Politicians from nations dealing with the damage wreaked by the St Stephen's Day tidal wave have been joined by US, European and United Nations leaders eager to be heard and have their say on how billions of aid dollars should be spent.
At the same time, significant numbers of military personnel are due arrive in Indonesia today and tomorrow, as the official US aid effort concentrates on meeting specific needs of the hundreds of thousands of people left destitute by the tsunami deluge, sources in the US military and government said yesterday.
Indonesia was set to become "the largest focus of efforts", said Marine Gunnery Sgt Charles Albrecht of the joint task force based in the southern Thai military base of U-Tapao.
"The size of the operation is not due to any priority we are giving Indonesia over Sri Lanka or other areas that are suffering, but because of the geography, the size of the area that has been hit," he said.
Helicopters and aircraft would fly relief supplies from carriers now stationed off the northern coast of Sumatra, he said.
Rather than random air drops, however, aid supplies - including bottled water, water purification systems, military rations, clothing, medicine and medical equipment - would be targeted to ensure that specific needs were met.
The US military was co-ordinating aid from a variety of sources, including non-government organisations and donations from the international community, Sgt Albrecht said.
The US has ransacked its international fleet, deploying warships, aircraft and thousands of troops to the ravaged region and co-ordinating efforts from a vast array of willing nations, including Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, India, Pakistan, China, Egypt, Canada and Japan.
Already, about 13,000 US military personnel have been deployed in the relief effort. About 11,600 are assigned to carrier groups led by the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Bonhomme Richard, with 21 US naval ships and 60 helicopters involved.
Contrary to criticism that Western, specifically US, aid efforts had been slow to materialise immediately after the December 26th Indian Ocean earthquake which sent devastating tsunami waves reverberating across Asia and east Africa, US efforts began unfolding within two days of the tragedy.
About 1,000 US marines are based at U-Tapao in southern Thailand, near the popular holiday resort of Pattaya, where the joint task force co-ordination and communication structure was set up on December 28th.
The Bonhomme Richard, with 24 heavy-, medium- and light-lift helicopters, and the Abraham Lincoln, with 19 H-60 helicopters, have been moving relief supplies across Aceh.
Six container ships which produce fresh water are also due to arrive off Sumatra to ferry supplies into Medan and Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.
The US military is also planning to deploy a 1,000-bed hospital ship, the USNC Mercy, from its base in San Diego by the end of the week.
In the early stages of the relief effort, flyover drops of water and food helped provide the bare minimum for the tens of thousands of people who had survived the tsunami but had lost everything.
Sgt Albrecht said it was essential that aid now be targeted so that victims' specific needs are catered for.
"There's no point in dropping water where people have water but no shelter or no food," said an US diplomat based in Singapore who is also involved in the relief operation.
"We have been assessing needs right from the start and the ongoing operation is now based on what people actually need, where they need and hopefully in a timely manner."
The cost of the US mission has not been announced, but reports have put the cost of maintaining a carrier strike group like that headed by the Abraham Lincoln at $2.5 million a day.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, has expressed hopes that people do not get the impression that the US administration was "not hard at work on this from day one".
US officials say that aid has reached major hubs such as Bangkok, Colombo and Jakarta to be relayed on but with up to five million people believed to be homeless or without food, the growing relief effort is facing new challenges.
These challenges are to be discussed in Jakarta today at the emergency summit.
The meeting has been described by the Philippines president, Ms Gloria Arroya, as an "urgent and significant, not only to step up the international humanitarian response to the multi-nation disaster but to enhance regional disaster preparedness through consolidated information-sharing and early warning systems".