As the crisis along the US Gulf Coast intensified, the White House announced that former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, will lead a fund-raising effort in the United States for hurricane relief, as they did for the December 26 Asian tsunami.
Mr Bush urged Americans to conserve petrol as prices soared in response to short supplies.
The president was to get an update from his economic advisers on the US economic impact of Katrina. He will travel to the coastal area tomorrow for an aerial tour of the disaster and make a couple of stops on the ground, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
The hurricane and its aftermath have handed Bush his greatest emergency since the September 11, 2001, attacks. They come as he struggles with the Iraq war, a leading reason his public approval ratings have dropped to among the lowest of his presidency.
In an interview on ABC's Good Morning America, Mr Bush drew no line between those looting stores for survival supplies like food and water and those stealing television sets that are of no use with electricity out in New Orleans.
"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the petrol pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud," Mr Bush said.
Looting has run rampant in New Orleans as stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina await emergency assistance.
"If people need water and food, we're going to do everything we can to get them water and food. But it's very important for the citizens in all affected areas to take personal responsibility and assume kind of a civic sense of responsibility so the situation doesn't get out of hand, so people don't exploit the vulnerable," Mr Bush said.
Elsewhere around the country, petrol sellers have been fast to raise prices, to more than $3 a gallon and in some places far higher, because of a sudden drop in supplies.
Eight oil refineries are down in the Gulf and it will take a while to get them going again, Mr Bush said. He said he expected Saudi Arabia to do "everything they can" to provide more oil, although he noted that the Saudis had "limited capacity" to pump more oil.
"I would hope Americans conserve if given a choice," he said.
Asked if US oil companies should forfeit profits during the crisis, Mr Bush said instead American corporations should contribute cash to hurricane relief funds.
He said the United States could take care of itself and did not expect to tap contributions from foreign countries.
Mr Bush said he had no estimated death toll from the tragedy, except to say that "obviously it's going to be a lot".
Authorities in the Gulf Coast region have said the toll could be in the thousands.
He defended the federal government's response to the growing crisis amid urgent pleas for help from stranded victims. He said the breach of the levees that led to the submerging of much of New Orleans had not been anticipated.
"I fully understand people wanting things to have happened yesterday. I understand the anxiety of people on the ground. ... But I want people to know there is a lot of help coming," the president said.
He also defended his own decision to wait until yesterday to return to Washington and cut short by a couple of days a four-week working holiday at his Texas ranch.
As originally published
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Troops ordered to
"shoot to kill"
people scrounging for food and water
Herald Sun [Melbourne, Australia]
Sept. 3, 2005 [Day 6]
US troops have been ordered to shoot to kill to stop the anarchy that has overtaken hurricane-devastated New Orleans.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said the 300 troopers from the Arkansas National Guard had been authorized to open fire on "hoodlums" who terrorized the flooded city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The deployment came amid intense criticism of the Bush Administration for a tardy response to the disaster, which is feared to have killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands stranded and homeless.
"These troops are fresh back from Iraq, well trained, experienced, battle tested, and under my orders to restore order in the streets," Ms Blanco said.
"They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded.
"These troops know how to shoot and kill, and are more than willing to do so if necessary. And I expect they will."
Four days after the killer storm slammed into the US Gulf Coast, New Orleans was plagued by gun battles and rapes. Gangs of looters and carjackers roved the streets, and bodies lay in the open.
Horror stories emerged from the Superdome, including of killings, child rapes, and thugs openly smoking crack cocaine.
It started as a refuge for 20,000 but turned into a "concentration camp" in debilitating humidity and the rank smell of backed-up toilets.
A National Guardsman was shot outside the Superdome, and a shot was also fired at a Chinook helicopter taking part in the operation to move refugees out of the stadium.
"The last few days were utter hell. We were treated like animals," said Baron Duncan, who took shelter in the stadium.
About 10 Australians fled the Superdome yesterday and were cowering in the foyer of the Hilton Hotel. As thousands finally escaped the Superdome horror on a bus convoy to Houston yesterday, the New Orleans Convention Center became a second flashpoint. Up to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at the center to await buses grew increasingly hostile.
Police Chief Eddie Compass said he sent in 88 officers to quell the situation, but they were quickly beaten back by an angry mob.
"We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," he said.
"Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon."
Two Victorian women are believed to be at the Convention Center.
Sharon Whyte, of Kilmore, said her mother, Pamela, and cousin Karen had not had fresh water since Tuesday.
Outside the Convention Center, the footpaths were packed with people desperate for food, water or medical care. At least seven bodies were outside.
An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead on a grassy median strip as hungry babies cried around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered with a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet.
The street was choked with sewage, dirty nappies, bottles and rubbish.
People chanted, "Help, help!" and a woman led the crowd in reciting the 23rd Psalm.
Hospitals were evacuated after power ran out, and helicopters ferrying patients and babies drew gunfire.
"This is a war zone," said Melissa Murray, 32, a Louisiana state corrections officer helping in the relief effort.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin issued an urgent plea for help for up to 20,000 refugees stuck in the convention center, which he said was "unsanitary and unsafe" and running out of supplies.
"This is a desperate SOS," Mayor Nagin said.
Governor Blanco said up to 300,000 survivors might still be stuck in the disaster area, and at least 40,000 uniformed troops were needed for New Orleans alone.
Armored personnel carriers patrolled Canal Street, which borders New Orleans' famous French Quarter district of bars and clubs.
At a city airport, scores of people, many of them seriously ill, waited for flights out to shelter and proper medical care.
President George W. Bush said looters should be treated with "zero tolerance", and also urged Americans to conserve petrol.
"Don't buy gas if you don't need it," he said.
With several refineries on the Gulf Coast shut, retail petrol prices soared to records.
Prime Minister John Howard yesterday announced a $10 million donation to the hurricane relief operation.
As originally published
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