Washington - US President George W Bush on Wednesday toured
a Kansas town virtually wiped out by a tornado last week, getting his
first look at devastation in which 10 people died.
Television images showed Bush smiling and shaking hands with
residents of Greensburg, where the courthouse and a grain elevator
reportedly were the only structures left intact by Friday's twister.
Bush wanted to comfort survivors in the small Midwestern town and
pledge the federal government's support for rebuilding, the White
House said.
The Republican president has been on the defensive about the
government's reaction to natural disasters since the bungled federal
response to Hurricane Katrina, which flooded the iconic Gulf Coast
city of New Orleans in 2005.
The Bush administration has fought charges by Kansas Governor
Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, that relief efforts were hampered
because many of the state's National Guard units were deployed in
Iraq.
Sebelius and Bush's national security adviser Frances Townsend
discussed the matter by telephone Tuesday, and the governor said
there were 'no shortages,' White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
National Guard units are part-time troops who can be called out by
states to help in emergencies but also sent abroad on combat duty.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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