The United States is pledging $350 million to help tsunami victims, a tenfold increase over its first wave of aid, President Bush announced Friday.

Bush also is sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to areas ravaged by earthquake and tsunami to assess what more the United States needs to do. The president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will travel with him.

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The newly announced aid came after some critics claimed that the initial U.S. contribution of $35 million was meager considering the vast wealth of the nation.

Annan, Powell Discuss Tsunami Relief Effort In Asia

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Friday major logistical support is needed so that supplies for tsunami victims don't get bottlenecked.

Annan is calling for more airplanes, helicopters and air traffic controllers. He said getting aid to devastated areas is "very difficult" -- and adds that officials are in a "race against time."

Annan spoke at the United Nations, following a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell in which the two men discussed the ongoing relief efforts in south Asia.

Powell called on all nations to "reach deep" and provide as much assistance as possible. He also spoke about the decision by the U.S. to increase its financial contributions tenfold to $350 million, saying the money indicates just how much help is needed to get the region back on its feet.

Survivors Continue Struggle

Even as an unprecedented world relief drive gathers momentum, survivors continue to grapple with the tsunami destruction in south Asia.

Teams of forensic experts in Thailand have been packing bodies in dry ice as the government there doubled the death toll to more than 4,500 people, nearly half of them foreigners.

Donations have been pouring in and aid planes and ships, including a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group, are rushing to the devastated region where officials say more than 121,000 died. Millions of survivors are still struggling for food and shelter.

Officials, especially in Indonesia, are coming to grips with the realization that there may never be an accurate death count after the towering waves swept entire villages and everyone in them out to sea. Indonesia suffered the most deaths.

As the first U.S. military cargo plane arrived with supplies for this devastated town on Friday, the country's health minister warned that Indonesia's death toll alone could reach 100,000, as the scope of the devastation around Banda Aceh became apparent.

Planes dropped food into isolated towns, and boxes of aid piled up at the airports as global donations poured into the region. But other villagers complained of hunger, and hospitals ran low on medicine, highlighting the difficulties workers had in delivering supplies.

The death toll from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the tsunamis it spawned rose to more than 120,000 on Friday, including about 80,000 deaths in Indonesia, though Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supadi said the toll there could hit 100,000.

While residents in Banda Aceh, capital of the hardest hit area, struggled to dispose of rotting corpses, officials found that nearby coastal villages had largely vanished under the sea's fury.

Meanwhile, senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka said Sunday's tsunami killed seven Americans and left 116 still missing.

The official said a special team at the embassy is working around the clock to locate U.S. citizens despite fading hopes of finding any more survivors.

The official said another 180 Americans had already been located and most had been sent back home. Some had walked into the embassy in only their swim suits but were able to board a plane in 24 hours. The State Department says at least 14 Americans died throughout the region.

Overall, at least 104 foreign nationals were killed in Sri Lanka.

U.S. Quake Relief Effort Gathers Momentum

The United States continues to ratchet up its response to Sunday's deadly tsunami in south Asia.

President George W. Bush said Secretary of State Colin Powell will visit the region to bring back a first-hand assessment of what's needed. The president's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has experience with extensive hurricane damage in Florida, will travel with Powell. House and Senate members also plan to visit.

A U.S. carrier battle group is due to arrive Friday off Indonesia's Sumatra island to spearhead the unprecedented multinational military relief effort. A U.S. marine strike group is steaming west from the Pacific territory of Guam for the seas off Sri Lanka.

U.S. corporations are donating millions of dollars in cash and supplies including diapers, antibiotics, frequent-flier miles and a gel called OdorScreen meant to curb the stench of decaying bodies

Sri Lankan Families Who Lost Children Stealing Tsunami Orphans

Aid organizations and Sri Lanka's government said grieving families who lost children in Sunday's tsunami are now stealing kids orphaned in the disaster.

The country said children make up a-third of the people who were killed in the tsunami.

Officials said they've heard of dozens of cases of so called impromptu adoptions and are pleading with families to stop. They said while they understand the families are struggling to replace the loss of their own children, "This is not the way to go about it."

Experts Warn Of Risk Of Misjudging Health Dangers

Some public health experts are warning about the risk of overestimating the health dangers from diseases in the aftermath of this week's tsunami disaster.

They're concerned authorities might underestimate other needs, such as counseling for those suffering from mental anguish. They also said water should be a top priority, rather than clothes.

The World Health Organization has predicted that deaths from disease could eventually reach the same numbers as those caused by the quake and the floods themselves.

But one doctor at Emory University in Atlanta said those deaths generally have fallen short of that mark in past tidal waves, floods and earthquakes.

Meanwhile, a vaccine researcher said millions of lives may be at risk in South Asia.

Dr. Robert Edelman of the University of Maryland medical school says within two or three weeks, all the dirty water left behind by the tsunamis will breed hordes of mosquitoes. He said they can carry diseases like malaria and dengue fever. It causes a rash, headache and very severe fever that is especially deadly to children.

Dr. Edelman helped develop a vaccine against dengue -- but so far, it's only being tested on infants in Thailand.

He said right now the No. 1 need for the health of survivors is clean drinking water.

U.S.: Lack Of Staff Stymied Alert To Tsunami-Hit Nations

The U.S. weather agency is facing some stern questioning by members of Congress over whether it did all it could before last weekend's tsunamis.

The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says his agency didn't have the phone numbers or the staff to alert all Indian Ocean coastal countries when it saw the first signs that tsunamis could be heading their way.

Conrad Lautenbacher says NOAA did all it was responsible for in warning 26 countries in the Pacific, adding, "We cannot watch tsunamis in the Indian Ocean."

In an interview with The Associated Press, Lautenbacher says he's ordered an internal review of its response to the quake and tsunamis. He says he's also asked his staff to look at creating a "rapid reaction" emergency team and a more global warning system.

Americans Urged To Phone Home

There may have been hundreds or even thousands of Americans in the region struck by the underwater quake and tsunamis. The U.S. government wants to make sure everyone is OK.

Twelve Americans are known to have died. Thailand reported that 20 were dead. Officials believe many of the others are safe, but they want to be sure. So they're issuing an appeal for Americans to check in with loved ones.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said people are calling constantly, saying they haven't heard from a family member.

He said they "shouldn't assume the worst" and that the process of tracking people down "will go on for some time."

Officials have compiled a list of 2,000-3,000 Americans who may be missing and are checking hospitals, morgues, and anywhere else Americans might turn up -- particularly in popular beach resort areas.

Victims Said To Be Without Food, Water On Remote Islands

Residents of a remote Indian island chain that's off-limits to outsiders said they have run out food and water and may starve.

The southern archipelago is considered the country's last tsunami blind spot and it's feared thousands are dead. The island is designated a tribal reserve and even Indians have to get special permission to visit there.

Some island survivors, though, have poured into refugee camps. They said some relief is arriving but local officials are hoarding the supplies. The survivors also said the number of deaths may continue to climb as people haven't had food or water "for at least five days."

Tsunami Toll Huge, But Not Deadliest Event On Record

The death toll from the south Asian tsunami disaster could soon rival that of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.

An estimated 140,000 people died when the United States dropped that bomb on Aug. 6, 1945, not including those who later succumbed to illnesses attributed to radiation.

The toll from last Sunday's disaster is more than 121,000 dead, and climbing. That's almost double the 74,000 killed in the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, three days after Hiroshima. And the toll well exceeds the more than 58,000 Americans killed in the Vietnam war.

But it's far from the deadliest natural disaster on record. Some 24 million people are said to have died in a 1907 famine in China.

More recently, a 1970 cyclone in Bangladesh is believed to have killed 300,000.