Washington- US President George W Bush offered the full support of the federal government in relief efforts following the onslaught of Hurricane Ike on the Texas coast, and vowed there will be a "better tomorrow" for the thousands of people who have been displaced.

"It's a tough situation on the coast," Bush said after arriving in his home state city of Houston Tuesday for a briefing on the humanitarian relief and reconstruction effort.

Bush said the federal government will reimburse the thousands of people who have been forced to flee their homes in Ike's path and urged citizens to make financial contributions to the American Red Cross.

"I hope the country does not have disaster fatigue," Bush said of a year in which the Midwest has suffered severe flooding and three years after the catastrophic consequences of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

Ike touched down on US shored early Saturday morning, killing at least 30 people in eight states and wiped out the barrier island community of Bolivar near Galveston.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled before Ike's arrival, abandoning their homes. Forty-thousand people remained holed up in shelters.

Before reaching the United States, Ike claimed 72 lives in Haiti and seven in Cuba.

Bush said authorities were working to ensure the energy resources like oil and petrol were being provided and to get electrical power grids back up and running.

"There will be a better tomorrow," he said at the Allington airstrip hanger in Houston, which lies less than 80 kilometres from the devastated coast. Bush planned on touring Galveston later Tuesday. (dpa)