SINGAPORE,
December 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The death toll
from Asia’s worst earthquake in decades and the resulting tsunami in
the Indian Ocean kept soaring Tuesday, December 28, while aid groups
struggled to contain a human catastrophe that has left millions of
displaced people.
The
latest toll put the number of those confirmed dead at the doorsteps of
the 55,000 mark, citing government officials and media from affected
countries, Reuters news agency reported.
Indonesia said its
toll could hit 25,000, while Sri Lankan officials warned up to 20,000
people may have died there. Thailand said its toll may exceed 2,000.
These
figures are preliminary and in some cases rough estimates by local
officials.
Meanwhile,
the stricken nations on the Indian Ocean, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka,
were still searching amongst the wreckage of the devastating tsunami for
bodies to bury.
Two
days after the biggest earthquake in 40 years struck the seabed off
Indonesia's Sumatra island, triggering waves up to 10 meters (33 ft)
high, officials found more death the farther they ventured into outlying
areas, Reuters reported.
The
International Red Cross said it feared the death toll would rise
significantly once access was gained to troubled areas such as
Indonesia's Aceh and the coastal areas of Myanmar, where the military
government has admitted to only 34 deaths.
And
with the death toll mounting, aid groups were also calling for urgent
supplies of coffins and formalin to preserve corpses as hundreds of
bodies remained tangled in wreckage or buried in mud and debris.
Numbers
of injured were not available for all countries affected, but are
expected to greatly exceed the number of dead.
Relief
Work
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Sri
Lankan sits on damaged property.
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On
the ground, aid agencies struggled Tuesday to cope with the enormity of
the Asian tsunami disaster, with the International Red Cross saying it
may have to treble its appeal for funds.
“The
enormity of the disaster is unbelievable,” Bekele Geleta, head of the
International Red Cross in Southeast Asia, told Reuters.
The
Red Cross issued a flash appeal Sunday for 7.5 million Swiss francs
($6.57 million) for survivors after the tsunami hit six Asian nations
following the massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake.
“We
realize now by dispatching emergency units that there is a big gap
already, so we will be revising our appeal up very soon,” Geleta told
Reuters. “I would not be surprised if Geneva made it three times or
more.”
For
many desperate survivors, aid has been too slow in coming. In
Indonesia's Banda Aceh, fear was mixed with anger as residents queued
outside the few open shops guarded by soldiers.
“Where
is the assistance? There is nothing. All the government are asleep,”
said Mirza, a 28-year-old resident.
“I've
been standing here for an hour. There is nothing at home,” said Budi,
24.
In
southern Thailand, local people were using spades, hoes and hand saws.
Mechanical equipment has appeared in some places and is still promised
in others.
While
national emergency groups were first on the ground, many international
aid organizations said they were still formulating how best to tackle
the huge demand for aid.
“They
are being stretched, there is no question of that,” said Geleta.
“The biggest problem is co-ordination and managing facilities and
resources.”
Also,
the United Nations said hundreds of relief planes packed with emergency
goods would arrive in the region from about two dozen countries within
the next 48 hours, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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Relief
is urgently needed. (AFP)
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The
United Nations said the disaster was unique in encompassing such a large
area and so many countries.
“The
cost of the devastation will be in the billions of dollars,” Jan
Egeland, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA), told Reuters.
“However,
we cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless
fishermen and fishing villages ... that have just been wiped out.
Hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have
gone.”
“This
is a massive humanitarian disaster and with communications so bad in
many areas, we still don't know the full scale of it," Oxfam
Community Aid Abroad executive director Andrew Hewett told reporters in
Australia.
The
disaster also stretched to include hundreds and may be thousands of
foreigners holidaying in the area.
Among
the dead foreigners so far 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.
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