"The citizens of the United States should know that Germany is truly and firmly at their side in such a situation and will do everything that is possible to organize assistance," Schroeder announced Thursday in Berlin.

"Many Germans know and love the City of New Orleans and feel deeply the great worries the people there and in the region have regarding their safety and future," the Chancellor w wrote in a letter to U.S. President Bush sent earlier this week.

Schroeder has issued a government-wide call to determine what specific help can be offered to the United States.

In a letter to U.S. President Bush, Federal President Horst Koehler also offered his sympathies on behalf of the German people. "My fellow Germans and I were deeply shocked by the news of Hurricane Katrina, which caused such widespread devastation in the southern United States," he wrote in a letter. "We are profoundly saddened by the suffering and grief of those affected."

Foreign Minster Joschka Fischer as well, offered his heartfelt condolences to the region. "Our sympathy goes out to all the victims and their families, the injured," and those who lost all their belongings in this terrible natural disaster, Fischer wrote in a letter to his U.S. counterpart Condoleeza Rice.

In a call made to Rice on Thursday, Fischer assured her of Germany’s solidarity with the United States, saying that "the German Government is prepared to do all that is humanly possible to help the victims of the hurricane."

Germany has announced its availability to provide the United States with technical assistance in coping with the massive devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. "If there are requests on the part of the Americans, then we will surely participate," German Interior Minister Otto Schily said on behalf of the German Government in an interview with Reuters TV.

In general, the United States is well equipped to deal with natural disasters, and the geographic distance across the Atlantic may make it difficult to provide immediate assistance to the affected region along the Gulf Coast.

Nevertheless, Schily reiterated Germany’s willingness to help. "We would of course also be prepared to support our American friends through the Technical Disaster Relief Agency." He assumed, however, that currently there is no need for it as the United States not yet requested help.