The United States has not actively sought foreign aid following Hurricane Katrina but dozens of countries have lined up to help with rescue efforts, from hefty cash donations to tents and helicopters.
The State Department said more than 40 governments and international organizations had made generous offers and the list was growing by the hour after Katrina devastated New Orleans and other parts of the US Gulf Coast, killing hundreds and possibly thousands of people.
We are not formally requesting assistance but anything that can materially benefit folks in need is something that we will accept," said a State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Countries were very generous after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States but officials said they could not remember this kind of outpouring of sympathy and aid for any other natural disaster on US soil.
Singapore sent helicopters, Israel offered medical teams within 24 hours and European oil producers responded to a formal US request to release gasoline stocks.
Help was not limited to allies and opponents of US policy such as Cuba and Venezuela put aside their political differences to join the chorus of nations offering help.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered to send cheap fuel but the State Department said a decision had not been made on whether to accept this offer.
Poor nations that usually turn to the United States for assistance, such as Honduras, offered to become donors as did Sri Lanka and Indonesia, countries that benefited from US assistance after last year's Indian Ocean tsunami.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice canceled her vacation and returned to work, where she spoke via telephone to her counterparts in more than a handful of foreign capitals.
Washington-based foreign embassies swamped the State Department with offers of help and several embassies planned charity fund-raisers to help those afflicted by the disaster.
The State Department, whose own passport office in New Orleans was closed by the hurricane, has activated a task force to handle offers of help and coordinate foreign assistance.
The department listed donors so far as: Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, China, Columbia, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, the European Union, France, Germany, Guatemala, Britain, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, NATO, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Organization of American States, Paraguay, South Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Sweden, Venezuela and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.