BANDA
ACEH, Indonesia, December 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) -
The death toll of the Asian tsunami disaster soared above 120,000 on
Thursday, December 30, as millions scrambled for food and fresh water
amid fears for new killer waves.
Aid
agencies warned many more, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka, could die in
epidemics if shattered communications and transport hampered what may
prove to be the biggest relief operation in history, reported Reuters.
Rescue
workers pressed on into isolated villages devastated by a disaster
that could yet eclipse a cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1991,
killing 138,000 people.
The
total toll had shot up more than 50 percent in a day with still no
clear picture of conditions in some isolated islands and villages in
India and Indonesia.
While
villagers and fishermen suffered devastation, losses among foreign
tourists, essential to local economies, mounted.
Massive
Needs
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A
Thai boy holds a bottle of Iceland spring water. (AFP)
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Indonesian
Health Ministry sources told Reuters just under 80,000 had died in the
northern Aceh province that was close to the undersea quake, some
28,000 more than previously announced.
“This
isn't just a situation of giving out food and water. Entire towns and
villages need to be rebuilt from the ground up,” said Rod Volway of
CARE Canada, whose emergency team was one of the first into Aceh.
The
world pledged $220 million in cash and sent a flotilla of ships and
aircraft laden with supplies.
“As
many as 5 million people are not able to access what they need for
living,” said David Nabarro, head of a World Health Organization
(WHO) crisis team.
The
airport of the main city, Banda Aceh, was busy with aid flights, but
residents said little was getting through to them.
Hungry
crowds jostling for aid biscuits besieged people delivering them in
the town. Some drivers dared not stop.
“Some
cars come by and throw food like that. The fastest get the food, the
strong one wins. The elderly and the injured don't get anything. We
feel like dogs,” said Usman, 43.
Indonesian
aircraft dropped food to isolated areas in Aceh on northern Sumatra,
an island the size of Florida -- areas that may not be reached by land
for days.
In
Sri Lanka's worst-hit area Ampara, residents ran things themselves,
going around with loudhailers, asking people to donate pots and pans,
buckets of fresh water and sarongs.
Haunted
Residents
of Banda Aceh fled their homes when two aftershocks revived fresh
memories of the worst earthquake in 40 years.
“I
was sleeping, but fled outside in panic. If I am going to die, I will
die here. Just let it be,” said Kaspian, 26.
Rumors,
unfounded, of another tsunami swept to the seaboard of Sri Lanka and
India, highlighting the continued tension across the stricken region
four days after the quake.
The
Indian government issued a precautionary alert for all areas hit by
the weekend's killer wave.
Police
sirens blared on beaches in Tamil Nadu, one of the worst hit states in
a country that has lost 13,000, as thousands streamed inland on foot
or crammed any vehicle they could find.
“Waves
are coming! Waves are coming,” some shouted. This time, however, the
waves did not come.
There
were similar scenes in Sri Lanka, where over 27,000 have been killed
and thousands fled inland from the eastern coast.
In
the Thai resort turned graveyard of Khao Lak, the grim task of
retrieving bodies was interrupted briefly when a tremor cleared the
beach of people in a flash.
Epidemics
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Relief
workers lay out bodies of tidal wave victims at a crisis center.
(AFP)
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Many
villages and resorts are now mud-covered rubble, blanketed with the
stench of corpses after the 9.0 magnitude quake.
Thousands
of bodies rotting in the tropical heat were tumbled into mass graves,
but health officials said polluted water posed a much greater threat
than corpses.
Authorities
warned of many deaths from dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever caused
by contaminated food and water, and malaria and dengue fever carried
by mosquitoes.
In
north Sri Lanka, survivors recovering corpses faced a new danger --
floating land mines from a long-running conflict.
The
United Nations prepared what could be its largest appeal for donations
to cope with its biggest relief effort.
US
President George W. Bush said the US, India, Australia and Japan have
formed an international coalition to coordinate relief and
reconstruction of the 3,000 miles of Indian Ocean rim that walloped
the earthquake.
Washington
said a pledge of $35 million was just a start, and sent an aircraft
carrier group toward Sumatra and other ships including a helicopter
carrier to the Bay of Bengal.
Leading
US and UK Muslim organizations have launched online donations and
appeals to people worldwide to immediately send contributions.
