Aid started to pour into the regions stricken by the Indian Ocean earthquake and the ensuing tsunami yesterday as governments and relief agencies mustered their forces to airlift supplies and personnel.
The UK government raised its pledge of relief to the region to £50 million (€70.6 million), making it the biggest single government donor.
In Washington, Mr Colin Powell, the secretary of state, hinted that the $35 million (€26 million) in relief aid the US has pledged was "just a beginning".
The World Bank said it would release $250 million to the region.
More than $300 million (€220 million) had already been pledged in cash by governments, relief agencies and companies yesterday, but the true figure is likely to be much higher as the response from the public pours into aid agencies around the world.
Mr Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary-general, said yesterday that the response from wealthy countries was very good. "I am satisfied with the response so far . . . but we are in this for the long-term," he said.
Blanket news coverage and the popularity as tourist destinations of the countries affected encouraged people to dig deep. Oxfam, the British aid agency, said it was receiving 400 calls a minute.
The Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella for British charities, said it had received more than £22 million yesterday from 500,000 people.
Among the biggest governmental donors was the European Union, which pledged €33 million, but countries all over the world have been making contributions.
Companies contributing to relief funds included Pfizer, which pledged $10 million in funds and $25 million in medicines, ExxonMobil, which said it would give $5 million, and Vodafone, which offered £1 million. Financial services groups including Citigroup, American Express, UBS and Merrill Lynch have pledged at least $10 million.
The World Health Organisation estimated yesterday that dealing with the immediate public health needs of the affected populations would cost $40 million.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies opened a new website to cope with the influx of support. The organisation has raised €21 million since Sunday.
"Where it would take several days for pictures and news to come through in previous disasters, now we have a steady flow of information," said Mr Jeremy Hughes, its head of external relations.
Despite good intentions, some donations of supplies have been misguided, and the agencies have warned that unsolicited donations could hamper their operations, clogging up supply lines in what is already a huge logistics challenge. Relief workers said the biggest problem was delivery. Mr Bernd Schell, regional co-ordinator for the Red Cross in Jakarta, said it took more than a day by road to reach affected areas in Aceh, Indonesia. "There are hardly any helicopters and you cannot land with planes. We are trying to redistribute the stock we have here," he said.
The UN refugee agency is preparing to airlift emergency shelter supplies for up to 100,000 people in Aceh.
Ms Helen Palmer, a spokeswoman at Oxfam, said relief organisations were concentrating on fresh water, which is in short supply.
"We are trying to provide clean drinking water and sanitation, flying in specialised equipment such as water tanks, pipes and pumps so we can purify water and provide it to families in buckets," she said. "We are also flying out latrine slabs to provide emergency latrines, and we're supplying soap."
There had been so many floods this year in areas such as Bangladesh that aid agencies had amassed expertise in flood damage, Ms Palmer added.
Singapore proposed yesterday that south-east Asian leaders should meet next week to discuss a co-ordinated response to the disaster. The call appeared to be in response to mounting criticism that the 10-member Association of South-East Asian Nations had been slow in developing a strategy to deal with regional natural disasters, in spite of having discussed the issue since the mid-1990s.
Mr Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's prime minister, urged the world's leading industrialised nations to hold an emergency meeting as soon as possible.
"The G8 meeting should discuss the organisation of aid and the possible reduction of debt," he said yesterday, echoing proposals put forward by French and German leaders for a debt moratorium for the affected Asian countries. However Britain, which takes over leadership of the G8 this week, said there were no plans for a meeting.
"In his discussions with Mr Berlusconi this evening, the prime minister said that we will contact the other G8 members about assistance that they may be able to give to the UN," a spokesman for Mr Blair's office said.
Mr Jacques Chirac, the French president, also called for a moratorium on debt payments from the countries worst hit by the disaster. Of the affected countries, Indonesia and Somalia appeared to be the two most fragile debtors to the Paris Club of creditor nations.
Meanwhile, Germany will propose to the EU that top industrial nations form bilateral "partnerships" with countries hit by the tsunami in southern Asia, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said in his annual New Year's address.
"I envisage that all the big industrial countries each take responsibility for one nation. Also Germany. Our states for corresponding areas there, our cities for their cities and our villages for their villages," Mr Schröder said in the speech.