The United States has offered Cuba $100,000 in emergency aid for the victims of Hurricane Gustav and is willing to send far more if a US-approved disaster assessment team is allowed to tour the hardest-hit areas.

All aid would be provided through international relief organisations, with none going directly to the communist government, said Gregory Adams, a spokesman for the US Interests Section in the Cuban capital.

"We're awaiting a response from the Cuban government, whether they say yea or nay. It's not a shift in US policy, it's a response to a humanitarian emergency," Adams said.

The Cuban government has not commented on the offer from its traditional foe, which turned down a Cuban offer to send doctors to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

Gustav damaged 100,000 homes, so the initial US offer works out to only about $1 per home in need of repair.

Russian planes carried tents, floor tiles, pipes and food to Havana, and several Latin American countries have pledged to send aid.

US citizens, meanwhile, can make tax-deductible donations to Cuban victims through the Pan American Development Foundation, the disaster relief arm of the Organisation of American States.

Fidel Castro wrote this week that repairs could cost billions on an island, where the average state salary is only about $20 per month. And Cuba's government is facing sky-high expectations from those who lost everything in the storm.