Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are among the world leaders who will attend an international summit in Jakarta this week to discuss distribution of more than $2 billion in pledged aid to tsunami victims.

Powell and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush, left the U.S. today to visit devastated areas in southern Asia, where 150,000 people perished after a magnitude-9 earthquake triggered tsunamis seven days ago.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is preparing for the Jan. 6 international conference as the first rescuers to reach survivors in remote areas of his country reported destruction defying description.

``The scale of the damage is beyond words,'' said Andi Hanindito, an Indonesian government official who's helping coordinate delivery of aid in Aceh province, where about 80,000 people died in coastal regions.

Japan is the biggest donor of the 44 nations that have promised aid, pledging $500 million this weekend. The U.S. has promised $350 million, the U.K. $96 million and Sweden $75 million. Canada doubled its aid promise to $80 million today. China increased its contribution 23-fold to $60 million two days ago, and Taiwan upped its pledge 10-fold to $50 million today. The list of donations last night took up 16 pages single-spaced, United Nations emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said.

Reconstruction, Debt

``This is going to be a multi-year effort,'' Powell said today in an interview on CBS television. He said he and Jeb Bush will be joined on their trip, which includes stops in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, by officials of U.S. aid and relief agencies.

The summit will focus on reconstruction after the world's worst natural disaster in 30 years, installation of the first tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean and possible debt rescheduling with international lenders, Indonesia Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told MetroTV in Jakarta.

``This tidal wave simply underlines the lessons we've been learning in the last 10 years,'' Bruce Gale, a Singapore-based political risk analysts with Hill & Associates. ``We had SARS, the haze, terrorism and now all this. All of them point to the same thing: Governments need to get together to ensure effective cooperation.''

Aid Pours In

Aid has been pouring in, sometimes beyond the means of relief agencies to deliver it quickly to areas beset by monsoon rains, washed-out roads, flattened infrastructure and destroyed communications facilities, charitable organizations said.

``Aceh's situation is beyond what we could ever have imagined,'' Megan Chisholm, senior emergencies officer with CARE Australia, said in a phone interview from Canberra. ``Staff there today said Aceh is annihilated. Access was delayed for days because roads and other infrastructure were wiped out.''

The Hong Kong chapter of Medecins Sans Frontieres, which says it was one of the first aid groups to reach Aceh, called off fundraising because it said it had more donations that it has the resources to use in stricken areas.

Indonesia has invited 17 countries and representatives from the European Union, the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Health Organization and other agencies to the meeting, as the United Nations mounts its biggest-ever relief operation for an estimated 5 million survivors threatened by food and water shortages and water-borne diseases such as cholera.

Leaders Convene

The prime ministers of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea have said they will attend. United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan also will be there.

Annan will visit Aceh on Jan. 7 as well as other regions hit by the tsunami, including Sri Lanka, Egeland told a press briefing in New York today.

``I think it's great that they're getting together because there are so many parties on the bandwagon now,'' said John Crawford, a member of the council for the Hong Kong Committee of the Unicef, the United Nations children's fund. ``Money is one thing, but you have to get the aid on the ground, and that requires organization.''

Coastal areas of Aceh, the northernmost province of Sumatra and the area closest to the epicenter of the biggest earthquake in 40 years, resemble a moonscape with no structures and no people, Cable News Network reported after flying into remote areas with U.S. helicopters dispatched from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast.

Bringing Aid

CNN footage showed survivors appearing suddenly from nowhere to swarm the helicopters, bringing the first food, water and medical supplies to the areas.

In Sri Lanka, the second-worst hit nation, with a death toll of 29,730, relief efforts have been slowed by bad weather, washed- out roads and a lack of transport vehicles after many trucks were destroyed by the giant waves.

``People are afraid,'' said R.C. Somatilakde, 59, a teacher from the coastal town of Galle in Sri Lanka, who's staying with 50 other families at a local Buddhist temple after their homes were destroyed by the waves. ``We are suffering. We are a poor country. Other countries are trying to do their best, but it's not enough.''

Immediate Needs

The overall number of dead from the quake and tsunamis, estimated at 150,000 by Egeland, would make the Asia quake the worst natural disaster since the 1976 earthquake in Tangshan, China, that killed more than 250,000 people. He said donations exceeded $2 billion.

``The world is coming together in a way that we've probably never seen before,'' Egeland said today.

World Bank James Wolfensohn said on ABC's ``This Week'' program in Washington that the aid pledged so far will go to ``immediate reconstruction needs. And after that, there will be a great deal more coming.''

The UN must provide food to 1.8 million people in areas affected by the disaster, an increase from yesterday, Egeland said. That figure includes 700,000 people in Sri Lanka and 1 million in Indonesia.

U.S. State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said the U.S. is using 80 trucks to ferry aid into Banda Aceh, capital of the province. Eight planes are shuttling in and out of Sri Lanka, he said.

Helicopters and other transport equipment from the U.S., Australia, Pakistan and other nations ``are worth their weight in gold now,'' Egeland said today. He said Singapore has offered to put their air bases, helicopters and transport at the UN's disposal.

``There are basically transport problems,'' said Dr. Shan Perera, a senior medical officer at Apollo Hospital in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, Diseases such as diarrhea, scabies, lung infections and pneumonia have been reported, he said.

Water and sanitation is the biggest problem, Egeland said today. While he hasn't heard of any cholera outbreaks, Egeland said diarrhea ``may take as many children's lives as the tsunamis'' in the next few weeks.

To contact the reporters on this story: Soraya Permatasari in Jakarta at soraya@bloomberg.net Sri Jegarajah in Singapore at sjegarajah@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 2, 2005 15:45 EST