Exclusive: Former Presidents on Hurricane Relief, Economic Crisis and Election

Sept. 24, 2008— -- Former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush are joining forces to raise funds for recovery efforts following Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. In an interview with ABC News' Charlie Gibson today, the two stressed the importance of a long-term relief plan for the Gulf Coast, and expressed support for the $700 billion economic bailout plan being debated this week in Congress.

Clinton called the economic situation "a very great trauma" and Bush said, "I think to not have a deal would be unconscionable. So I think they'll come together and get something done."

The former presidents acknowledged the challenge of raising money for hurricane relief under existing economic circumstances.

Bush said they hadn't set a monetary goal for the effort. "I'm hoping we'll get quite a few million," he said. "I don't think we set a goal, but if we get $30, $40 million, we'll be off to a good start, and I think it'll be a good start, and I hope we will. We raised a lot more than that in Katrina, I think, but that would be a very good start."

Watch "World News with Charles Gibson" tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET for the full interview.

'Major Damage' From Recent Hurricanes

The duo made a surprise joint appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting today in New York to announce the fundraising effort. The initiative, called the Bush-Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund, will target long-term relief and collaborate with officials from hard-hit areas to rebuild infrastructure.

Hurricane Ike, which made landfall earlier this month, caused severe damage, particularly in Galveston and Houston, the fourth-largest city in the United States.

Ike's 110 mph winds obliterated thousands of homes and resulted in at least 61 deaths. Seventy-five percent of the homes in Galveston are still uninhabitable, there is still no power or drinking water, and returning residents have been encouraged to bring rat poison.

"Most Americans haven't absorbed how many people have really been hurt down there," Clinton said.

Bush called the situation on the Gulf Coast "devastating" and said that recovery would take "a long time."

"Forty-billion dollars in Texas alone," he said. "That doesn't include the neighboring Louisiana coast. Tens of thousands lost homes. ... Seven-hundred-seventy communities in 22 counties assumed major damage. So it's bad."

But the Texas resident, whose own foundation office still lacks power, said he didn't think the landscape of that part of the state had been changed forever by the storms.

"It will bounce back," he said. "It might look different, but a lot of it will be the same. It's not as though people are just saying, 'We don't want to go there anymore, we don't want to live there anymore because of another hurricane coming up.' People have a better spirit than that."

"I think what will happen here is what we saw in the Katrina area, and when we did the [2004 Indian Ocean] tsunami," Clinton added. "Any time you have this kind of disaster, the toughest part are the homes. That's what takes the longest to redo, to get everybody back in their homes. Then I think it also is an opportunity to try to do it and do it in the right way, make them more storm resistant and all of that. I predict to you it will be painful, but it can also be exciting if we do it right."

Clinton also raised the importance of restoring the barrier islands both in Texas and Louisiana, "to make it safer for the next time. ... But our focus, obviously, is just going to be on helping the people that need the help."

At today's announcement, Bush said that the "political odd couple" had returned.

The two championed similar relief efforts after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004.

In response to the devastation of the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, the former presidents founded the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, launching a major fundraising effort to provide for long-term recovery in ravaged regions across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The charity raised $135 million, and distributed grants to charities like Habitat for Humanity and St. Thomas Health Services in New Orleans for rebuilding, filling in gaps not met by other relief organizations.

In 2005, the former presidents put political differences aside, teaming up to lead the U.S. effort to provide aid to victims of the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The duo traveled as emissaries to areas across Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. After seeing the devastating impact first-hand, the two carried the message across America, raising $1 billion in aid.