US accepts UN offer to rush aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina

The United Nations announced today that the United States Government has accepted the world body's offer of help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A small UN Coordination team is in Washington now consulting with Government officials on how the UN can best complement the US's own emergency efforts.

“The UN'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 UN spokesman said in a statement released in New York.

Among those “ready to provide emergency staff and a wide variety of relief supplies as and when necessary” are the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), according to the statement.