Tuesday, January 4 2005 14:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Lauding India for taking a lead in organising relief in areas hit by the devastating tidal waves, US President George W Bush has thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his "very strong leadership" in this regard.

In a gesture of solidarity with India, which is coping with the Tsunami tragedy, Bush along with his wife Laura and former Presidents George H W Bush and Bill Clinton visited the Indian Embassy yesterday (Jan 3, 2005) and signed a condolence book.

"We pray for the victims of this terrible disaster and we stand firmly with the people of India as she recovers," he wrote in the book, which was signed by all the four.

Bush, who enlisted both the former Presidents in an ambitious fund-raising drive to help victims of the tragedy, later told reporters India has taken a lead in organising relief efforts around the region and thanked the Prime Minister for his "very strong leadership" in this regard.

"I want to thank the Indian Government for taking a lead in this issue. One of the first things that we did was to put together a core group of nations, nations that are capable of organising relief efforts around the region, and the Indian Government has been especially strong, as a part of this core group," he said.

The President said the US stood ready to send any relief supplies "whatever the Indian Government needs".