..."I've been in war and I've been through a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have never seen anything like this," Powell said after a 30-minute helicopter tour.
 

"I cannot begin to imagine the horror that went through the families and all of the people who heard this noise coming and then had their lives snuffed out by this wave," he said. "The power of the wave to destroy bridges, to destroy factories, to destroy homes, to destroy crops, to destroy everything in its path is amazing. "
 

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, touring the damaged region with Powell, looked shaken by what he saw. "It's heartbreaking," he told an Indonesian official standing near him on the tarmac.
 

From an altitude of a few hundred feet, not a standing tree or building was visible along large swaths of coastline. City block after city block had been swept clean. A large ship lay on its side, half submerged in water and mud.
 

Hills rising beyond the shore showed a stark high-water mark — barren brown land scoured clean below and then a distinct line with verdant green growth above.
 

Before embarking on his early afternoon chopper tour, Powell said U.S. money and military assistance to countries where tens of thousands died in the tsunami may lessen anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world.
 

"I hope that as a result of our efforts, as a result of our helicopter pilots being seen by the citizens of Indonesia helping them, that value system of ours will be reinforced," Powell said.
 

The United States bankrolls humanitarian relief in part "because we believe it is in the best interest of those countries and it's in our best interest," Powell said. "It dries up those pools of dissatisfaction that might give rise to terrorist activity."
 

"It turns out that the majority of those nations affected were Muslim nations," Powell said. "We'd be doing it regardless of religion, but I think it does give the Muslim world and the rest of the world ... an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action."
 

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country with 238 million people, had the largest loss of life in the Dec. 26 disaster that struck 12 countries around the Indian Ocean. Indonesia is a fledgling democracy and an ally in the Bush administration's war on terrorism, but suspicion of Americans runs deep here.
 

Islamic militants are blamed for three large bombings in the past two years, including one that killed 12 in the Jakarta hotel where Powell's entourage is staying during a tour of tsunami damage.
 

Before touring the Banda Aceh coastal region, Powell and his delegation met with Indonesia's foreign minister and inspected American and international relief efforts in Phuket, where thousands died in shattered beach resorts popular with Western tourists.
 

Powell and the governor briefed President Bush (news - web sites) by phone after the initial phase of their trip, informing him that the governments of India, Sri Lanka and Thailand appear to have a "strong capacity" to manage tsunami relief, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Washington.
 

However, Powell told the president that the situation was much different in Indonesia.
 

Aceh and the western coast of the island of Sumatra took a double hit from the 9.0 undersea earthquake nearby and the huge tsunami it spawned.

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