With the devastation drawing comparisons to the September 11 terrorist strikes, the 2004 tsunami in Asia, and even Hiroshima after the atomic bomb, Bush pleaded for patience with relief efforts slowed by looting and wrecked infrastructure.

"We all know this is an agonizing time for the people of the Gulf Coast. I ask their continued patience as recovery operations unfold," the president said. "This recovery is going to be a long process."

The US House of Representatives and the US Senate were set to hold a special session on Friday to approve what aides of both chambers and both major US parties predicted would be a 10-billion-dollar emergency aid package.

"The private sector needs to do its part as well," the president said during a brief joint appearance with his predecessor and his father, who raised about one billion dollars for last year's tsunami victims.

"Once again I've asked them to work to help the needs of those who hurt. And once again I'm confident that the American people will respond," said Bush, who drew criticism for his early response to the crisis.

On Friday, the president was to fly to the US Gulf Coast for a helicopter tour of Alabama and Mississippi as well as the city of New Orleans, and make stops on the ground in those areas, said spokesman Scott McClellan.

Bush saw some of the devastation from his Air Force One airplane as he flew back from Texas Wednesday, having cut two days from his month-long Texas vacation in what some have called a belated response to Katrina.

After meetings with his economic aides and US Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan, Bush said that what many were calling the worst natural disaster in US history would cause a "temporary disruption" in gasoline supplies.

The president said efforts were underway to fix major pipelines, and that he had waived restrictions that prevent foreign-flagged ships to transport gasoline between US ports, but that it would not be enough in the short term.

"Steps we're taking will help address the problem availability but it's not going to solve it. Americans should be prudent in their use of energy during the course of the next few weeks. Don't buy gas if you don't need it," he said.

Earlier, Bush vowed "zero tolerance" for looters and other profiteers and said he would send in more troops if necessary to guard recovery efforts plagued by rising violence, looting and carjackings in New Orleans.

In an interview on ABC television, Bush also pledged maximum assistance for stricken areas of the US Gulf Coast, where thousands were feared dead, and said Washington had not asked for any help from abroad.

"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, price gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, insurance fraud," Bush said.

And he compared the storm to the "man-made" September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes that left some 3,000 people dead, saying: "New Orleans is more devastated than New York was."

Bush said some 22,000 National Guard troops were on site or en route to ravaged areas of the southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi and that he was open to sending more.

Countries such as France, Germany, Russia and even US critic Venezuela have volunteered assistance, but Bush said: "I'm not expecting much from foreign nations because we haven't asked for it.

"I do expect a lot of sympathy, and perhaps some will send cash dollars. But this country is going to rise up and take care of it. We love help, but we are going to take care of our own business, as well."

The president, battling plummeting approval ratings and mounting opposition to his policies in Iraq, has drawn some criticism for waiting an extra day to return from his Texas ranch to take charge of hurricane recovery efforts.

"It is a national emergency. And what we need to do as a nation is come together to solve the problem, and not play politics. There will be ample time for politics," said Bush.

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