"We have already, of the 350 million, committed or spent 78 million dollars to the UN, the (international Red Cross) Federation or the IOM (International Organisation for Migration)," US government development agency (USAID) chief Andrew Natsios.

About 35 million of the 78 million dollars is for the United Nations, he added.

The overall figure did not include the US military contributions, through troops, aircraft, helicopters and other equipment and logistical capacity, which USAID estimated was worth an additional five to six million dollars a day.

Speaking on the sidelines of a UN meeting between donor nations and aid agencies, Natsios also indicated that Washington would unlock funds when they were needed rather than commit large amounts in advance.

The UN had called on donors to speed up the delivery of promised funds, ending up with 717 million dollars -- 73 percent of its 977 million dollar appeal for six months of relief aid -- when the meeting in Geneva ended.

"We don't want to push resources into the field, we want the people in the field to pull resources from donor governments and central governments as they are needed on the ground," Natsios said.

"This disaster response has for two weeks now looked like it's driven by donations as opposed to needs on the ground," he added.

The destruction wrought by the tsunami around the Indian Ocean on December 26 prompted an unprecedented burst of aid pledges from the international community valued at billions of dollars.

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