Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government added two ships and doubled the number of helicopters to carry aid in Indonesia's Aceh province, the hardest hit area in the South Asian tsunami that killed more than 150,000 people, as relief organizations called for more coordination of rescue efforts.

The USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Duluth today arrived in Sumatran waters and airlifted more than 200,000 pounds (90,000 kilograms) from two warehouses for distributing to areas unreachable by road, the U.S. embassy in Jakarta said in an e- mailed statement. The ships carry 25 helicopters each and more than doubled the number of U.S. aircraft for carrying aid.

About 40 countries have pledged as much as $3 billion in aid for countries in Asia and Africa where coastlines were inundated by a tsunami resulting from the Dec. 26 magnitude-9 earthquake that struck off the coast of Sumatra. Indonesia will host a summit of Asian leaders in Jakarta tomorrow to discuss the situation and coordinate aid efforts.

In the latest pledges, Germany today increased its aid to $661 million while British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the U.K. will give ``hundreds of millions of pounds'' once requirements have been assessed.

Separately, the International Underwriting Association said that total insured losses are expected to range between $5 billion and $10 billion. Many of the losses probably weren't insured, the association said in a statement.

Coordination

``Coordination is a must among government, civil society organizations, international agencies and others,'' said Emmy Hafild, secretary general of the National Civil Society Coalition, a Jakarta-based organization. ``People in Banda Aceh cannot get enough food and other basic necessities because they don't have identification.''

Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier today toured Aceh province in north Sumatra, which was the worst hit area by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami. Powell has ``a better understanding'' of what's needed to help the Indonesian government deal with the disaster after touring Banda Aceh, he said in comments broadcast live on CNN at a press conference in the capital of Aceh province.

``I have never seen anything like this,'' Powell said.

Aid efforts are being hampered by the destruction of roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Remote Areas

``Many of the places are very difficult to access, especially the port areas,'' Michael Elmquist, Indonesian director for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said today by telephone from the area. ``There are many places where dead bodies haven't been recovered.''

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and leaders from Asian countries are meeting in Jakarta tomorrow to discuss coordinating aid efforts across the region and setting up a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean region. They may also discuss debt relief for the countries involved.

Indonesia's death toll ``could exceed 100,000,'' Iyang Sukandar, secretary general of the Indonesian Red Cross, said yesterday. Indonesia today revised the number of people known to have died to 94,200 people. Sri Lanka is the next hardest hit, with 30,240 people confirmed dead, followed by India with 9,571 dead and Thailand with 5,246.

Sumatra Deaths

``A very large number of the population have been killed on the western part of Sumatra,'' Elmquist said from Banda Aceh, capital of Sumatra's Aceh province. An estimated 20,000 people survived in the town of Meulaboh, which had 80,000 residents before the tsunami struck, he said.

Five of 19 regions in Aceh, including the cities of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island, and Sabang, as well as the districts of Aceh Jaya, Aceh Barat and Aceh Besar, are the hardest-hit areas where more than 60,000 people were killed, Indonesia's Health Ministry said.

The number of people missing rose to 6,700 from 1,375 yesterday, the ministry said. Thousands are unaccounted for because much of Aceh Barat district on the west coast of the province, including Meulaboh, is only accessible by air and by sea, government officials said.

`Sense of Desperation'

``The biggest operational challenge right now is in northern and western Sumatra,'' United Nations World Food Program Asia director Anthony Banbury told reporters in Bangkok today.

World Food Program is operating out of Medan on the eastern coast and at nearby Belawan port, Banbury said.

The UN estimates there may be as many as 500,000 displaced people in the northern Sumatra region, Elmquist said. ``We will need to provide for 800,000 people over the year,'' he said.

There is ``a sense of desperation'' aid isn't reaching people on the Sumatra coast, Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator said yesterday, according to the UN.

In addition to the deaths throughout the Indian Ocean, about 5 million people have been left homeless and an estimated 1.8 million need food aid, Egeland said.

``We are making extraordinary progress in reaching the majority of people affected in the majority of areas,'' Egeland said yesterday. ``We are also experiencing extraordinary obstacles in many, many areas and nowhere do we have bigger problems again than in northern Sumatra and the Aceh region.''

UN Access

Egeland said the UN has the use of 40 helicopters, a ``sufficient'' number for aid delivery, and will soon get earth- moving equipment to expand the capacity of the single-runway airport at Banda Aceh that got some of the heaviest damage from the waves. The relief operation needs trucks, helicopters and aircraft, Egeland said.

The two new ships from the U.S. add 25 helicopters to the 17 the world's most powerful military has been using.

The Indonesian government estimates it will need about 10 trillion rupiah ($1 billion) to help rebuild areas affected by the earthquake, including Aceh, the province in north Sumatra.

Giving debt relief to Indonesia and other countries affected by the disaster will help them rebuild, Oxfam International said. Indonesia has about $81 billion of debt owed to overseas creditors.

``Oxfam calls for an immediate debt moratorium for all the countries affected and a review of conditions of existing loans,'' James Ensor, the aid organization's advocacy director said at a press conference today in Jakarta.

To contact the reporters on this story: Shanthy Nambiar in Jakarta at snambiar1@bloomberg.net; Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 5, 2005 08:08 EST