NEW ORLEANS, Sept 16: President George Bush on Thursday accepted blame for the US government’s flawed response to Hurricane Katrina in a nationally televised speech here, and promised one of the biggest rebuilding efforts the world has ever seen in the disaster zone.

In his speech Mr Bush promised a drastic safety review for every US city, on a day the death toll for the destructive Aug 29 storm reached 792.

“The system, at every level of government, was not well coordinated, and was overwhelmed in the first few days,” Mr Bush said in a live speech from Jackson Square in New Orleans’s historic French Quarter.

“Four years after the frightening experience of Sept 11, Americans have every right to expect a more effective response in a time of emergency.

“When the federal government fails to meet such an obligation, I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution.” Mr Bush ordered a sweeping review of disaster-response plans in every major US city. “I consider detailed emergency planning to be a national security priority,” Mr Bush said.

The president gave no detail about how much he proposed to allocate on top of the 62 billion dollars allotted by Congress, but vowed: “The work that has begun in the Gulf coast region will be one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen’.

Mr Bush was back in the region for the fourth time since Katrina struck, to make his ambitious proposal to rebuild the disaster zone across Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

DEMOCRATS UNIMPRESSED: Democratic Senator John Kerry was unimpressed by the president’s speech, during which he gave out telephone numbers and Internet websites of places to give and receive help.