President Bush said Thursday that people affected by the huge power blackout may not see their lives return to normal right away but "slowly but surely we're coping with this massive, national problem."

President Bush speaks to the media in San Diego about the massive blackouts that have hit the U.S. and Canada, in San Diego, Aug. 14, 2003.  [AP]

Bush said he would order a review of "why the cascade was so significant." The outage hit states from New York to Michigan and hit major cities in Canada. Bush said he suspects that the U.S. electrical grid would need to be modernized.

"It's a serious situation," he said.

"I have been working with federal officials to make sure the response to this situation was quick and thorough and I believe it has been," Bush told reporters at a downtown hotel during a two-day California trip.

But, the president said, state and local officials have not asked the federal government for much help as of yet.

Bush credited local and state emergency officials with quickly getting a handle on the problem.

"We're better organized today to deal with an emergency than we were 2 1/2 years ago," he said.

President Bush speaks to the media about the massive blackouts that hit the United States and Canada Aug. 14, 2003.  [AP]

He also said it "has been remarkable to watch on TV" how calmly individuals reacted.

Bush said the first priority would be to deal with the consequences of the blackout. "We're offering all the help they need to help people cope with the blackout," he said.

Bush pointed to the resumption of some flights at LaGuardia and Newark airports near New York as a sign the situation was beginning to come under control. Bush said it wasn't clear yet what caused the initial problem. "One thing I can say for certain, this was not a terrorist attack," he said.

Bush was notified about the outage by Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin while he was having lunch with Marines at a military base in southern California.

Officials from the White House and National Security Council held a video conference call with officials from the departments of Energy, Homeland Security, Treasury, State, the FBI and other agencies, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

The meeting was organized to make sure the federal government was ready to help to meet any request that might arise from state and local governments, he said.

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