Officials at Port Blair said that 712 bodies had been buried or cremated Friday and that at least 3,754 people were missing. The figure is significantly lower than an earlier government estimate that 10,000 were missing.

Thailand

In Thailand, Suwit Khunkitti, minister for natural resources and environment, appealed for dry ice and refrigerated containers to store thousands of decomposing bodies. The known toll of foreign tourists killed in southern Thailand around Khao Lak beach neared 2,000 alone. But with almost 6,500 people missing overall, the final tally will be higher, officials said.

Nine U.S military C-130 transport craft took off Friday from U Tapao — the Thai base used by U.S. B-52 bombers striking targets in Indochina during the Vietnam War — to rush supplies to the stricken resorts of southern Thailand and to more-distant airfields in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, said a U.S. military spokesman in Bangkok.

The U.S. military is providing significant assistance in addition to Bush's aid announcement.

Two Navy groups of a dozen vessels — led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard — are headed for the coasts of Indonesia and Sri Lanka with supplies and more than 40 helicopters to help ferry food and medicines.

The head of the U.N. World Food Program, James Morris, praised the increased level of donations to the Indian Ocean crisis, but warned that massive and immediate action is required.

"It is extremely gratifying to see such a swift and generous response to this new catastrophe, perhaps the worst natural disaster in history," Morris said.

The U.S. pledge of $350 million came after congressional and media criticism about the size and timing of the Bush administration's response. Britain ($95 million), France ($57 million), Sweden ($75.5 million) and Spain ($68 million) had offered larger sums in response to what the United Nations describes as perhaps the most costly natural disaster in history.

Bush decided to increase aid following recommendations by Powell and Andrew Natsios, the director of the Agency for International Development, the president's statement said.

The funds will virtually drain the current U.S. international disaster and famine relief account and may require the AID to reprioritize needs from other accounts to come up with the funds, a senior State Department official said. The Pentagon also has some resources that could be tapped to meet the pledge, he added.

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Contributing: Edward Cody and Alan Sipress in Banda Aceh and Peter S. Goodman in Bangkok; Robin Wright in Washington and Rama Lakshmi in Madras, India.