M A I N   N E W S

Tsunami toll 59,000, likely to rise
Simon Gardner

Colombo, December 28
Nations on the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Sri Lanka searched amongst the wreckage of a devastating Tsunami for bodies to bury today as fears grew the toll would exceed the 29,000 now reported killed.

Two days after the biggest earthquake in 40 years struck the seabed off Indonesia’s Sumatra island, triggering waves up to 10-metre high, officials found more death the further they ventured into outlying areas.

It was feared the final toll could rise further. A disproportionate number of the dead appeared to be children.

The number of dead so far in different countries is Indonesia (27,000), Sri Lanka (18,706), Thailand (1,516), Malaysia (65), Maldives (55), Somalia (38), Tanzania (10), France (10), Bangladesh (2) and Kenya (1).Searchers in Thailand retrieved 770 bodies, both foreign tourists and Thais, along the Khao Lak beach north of Phuket resort island, a disaster official said.

Bodies littered the streets in northern Indonesia, closest to Sunday’s magnitude 9.0 earthquake. Around 1,000 people lay where they were killed when a Tsunami struck as they watched a sports event.

Indonesian Health Minister said the toll in the country could exceed.

Nearly 90 people were killed in Myanmar and the death toll is expected to increase, according to reports compiled by international aid agencies today.

Aid sources, who requested anonymity, said that according to information collected by agency workers at the scene, about 20 people perished in the Tanintharyi Division and 37 were killed in the vast delta of the Ayeyarwaddy River.

Among the dead foreigners were at least 13 Norwegians, 12 Britons, 11 Italians, 10 Swedes, nine Japanese and eight Americans. Unconfirmed reports said hundreds of foreign tourists had been killed in resorts in Sri Lanka and Thailand.

In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on a field about four times the size of a soccer pitch, more than 1,000 bodies lay where they died while watching a sports event on Sunday.

“I was in the field as a referee. The waves suddenly came in and I was saved by God — I got caught in the branches of a tree,” said Mahmud Azaf who lost his three children.A military official said resources were stretched. “Many bodies are still lying on the streets. There just aren’t enough body bags,” Lieutenant Colonel Budi Santoso told reporters. In southern Thailand, 770 bodies were found in and near shattered beach hotels at Khao Lak, north of Phuket.

The UN’s Egeland said there could be epidemics of intestinal and lung infections unless health systems in the stricken countries got help.

8 Indians dead, 20 missing  in Lanka
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 28
Eight Indians have died while 20 are missing from different areas in Sri Lanka in the Tsunami disaster, the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed today.

Following are the names of the eight Indians killed in Sri Lanka: Mrs Beena, Padhve, Indian national, a resident of Singapore, who died in Hikkaduwa; Mr Naresh Somani, Surat, died in Trincomalee; Mr and Mrs Alagappan, Chennai, died in Trincomalee; Mr Kesri Faujdar, died in Yala National Park; Ms Mehr Faujdar, died in Yala National Park; Mr Ashwin, Chennai, died in Yala National Park; Mr Seetharaman, Chennai, died in Yala National Park.

China sends relief goods to India, Sri Lanka

Beijing, December 28
China today sent an aircraft carrying relief materials to India and Sri Lanka, which have been hit by massive tidal waves, the state media reported today. An Airbus 747 carrying blankets, tents, sheets and food, including canned chicken, beef, and mutton, is scheduled to arrive in Colombo, it said. The plane would land first in India, where some relief goods would be unloaded.

While the exact quantum of Chinese aid to India is not known, Beijing has decided to provide another $ 610,000 aid to Sri Lanka, totalling $ 1.22 million in relief goods and $ 200,000 in cash, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China would like to offer aid and assistance to those countries within its capacity so as to express the Chinese people’s solidarity with the victims . — PTI