"Wave of death from Asia to Africa"

Death toll in Asian quake disaster over 55,000
JAKARTA: The confirmed death toll from the massive earthquake and tidal waves that devastated much of Asia's coastline passed 55,000 on Tuesday, with officials warning the figure was likely to rise steeply. In Indonesia, the government's disaster relief centre said at least 27,174 were killed after the country took the full force of the huge earthquake and tidal waves that swallowed entire coastal villages.
Full Article : indiatimes.com

Asian disaster toll surges past 55,000 as relief operations stall

Tidal Waves Death Toll Rises to 44,000
Mourners in Sri Lanka used their bare hands to dig graves Tuesday while hungry islanders in Indonesia turned to looting in the aftermath of Asia's devastating tsunamis. Thousands more bodies were found in Indonesia, dramatically increasing the death toll across 11 nations to around 44,000.

Emergency workers who reached Aceh province at the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island found that 10,000 people had been killed in a single town, Meulaboh, said Purnomo Sidik, national disaster director at the Social Affairs Ministry.
Full Article : abcnews.go.com

Scientists in USA saw tsunami coming
Minutes after a massive earthquake rocked the Indian Ocean on Sunday, international ocean monitors knew that a tsunami would likely follow. But they didn't know whom to tell.

"We put out a bulletin within 20 minutes, technically as fast as we could do it," says Jeff LaDouce of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. LaDouce says e-mails were dispatched to Indonesian officials, but he doesn't know what happened to the information.
Full Article : usatoday.com

Breakdown of Disaster Deaths by Country
Officials said more than 26,000 people were killed in 11 countries in southern Asia and Africa after massive tsunami waves smashed coastlines Sunday morning. A breakdown of the toll so far:
Full Article : kansascity.com

Hundreds perish in Somalia
NAIROBI: Hundreds of people died and entire villages and towns disappeared when tidal waves hit Somalia’s coastline along its central and north-eastern regions, a Somali presidential spokesman said Monday.

The "human loss is in the hundreds in the central and north-eastern coastal area. ... Entire villages and coastal town have been swept away by the tidal waves and there is severe damage to property," said Yusuf Ismail, spokesman of Somalia’s President Abduallhi Yusuf Ahmed.
Full Article : jang.com.pk

Killer waves smash east coast of Africa
NAIROBI - High waves sparked by a massive earthquake on the other side of the Indian Ocean hit the east coast of Africa on Sunday, drowning a number of people, officials and witnesses said.

The huge waves swept 7000 kilometres from the Indonesian island of Sumatra before crashing onto the shores of Kenya and Somalia, affecting the islands of Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles on the way.
Full Article : dispatch.co.za

Biggest relief operation gets under way
Local communities and international aid operations are getting ready for what the UN has described as the largest aid operation in history.

As this massive exercise got into gear, countless residents in the countries stricken by the massive tsunami disaster were providing their own assistance with whatever came to hand.

Dozens of trucks and vans lined up in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, as locals sought to help fellow citizens in a country that suffered at least 12,000 deaths.
Full Article : aljazeera.net

Over 24,000 killed in Asia tidal waves
COLOMBO: Massive rescue operations were scrambled along Asia’s devastated coastlines on Monday as the death toll from a powerful earthquake and the giant tidal waves it unleashed neared 24,000 and hopes faded for many thousands more still missing.

More than one million people have been displaced in three of the countries, the international Red Cross said. "There are one million displaced in Sri Lanka, plus 29,000 in Thailand and one thousand in India roughly," Marie-Francoise Borel, a spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told AFP.
Full Article : jang.com.pk

From Asia to Africa, a terrible trail of death
The death toll from the tsunami which devastated coastal areas of South East Asia was about 23,200 today as the United Nations warned it could be the worst natural disaster of modern times.

More than two million people lost their homes and tens of thousands were injured with many more still unaccounted for after the flash floods triggered by a massive under-sea earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia.
Full Article : nzherald.co.nz

From Asia to Africa, a terrible trail of death and destruction
Burials were held all over India for thousands of victims, mostly in the state of Tamil Nadu, where more deaths yesterday brought the total to 2,890. The Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa described the damage as "unprecedented".
Full Article : independent.co.uk

U.S. Has Asia-Africa Disaster Information
The State Department on Monday established a toll-free telephone number for inquiries about U.S. citizens affected by the Asian earthquake and tsunamis.

The public may call toll free at 888-407-4747. Overseas, people may call 317-472-2328.

Those seeking information also can contact the department's Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management, 202-647-5225.

General information about disaster relief, preparation and emergency services to U.S. citizens abroad can be found at the State Department Web page http://travel.state.gov/travel/crisismg.html.

Source: guardian.co.uk