Tsunami death toll passes 125,000

BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA - Asia's tsunami death toll soared above 125,000 on Thursday as millions scrambled for food and clean water and rumours of new giant waves sent many fleeing inland in panic.
Aid agencies warned many more, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka, could die in epidemics if shattered communications and transport hampered what may prove history's biggest relief operation.


The death toll had shot up more than 50 per cent in a day with still no clear picture of conditions in some remote villages as well as islands around India and Indonesia.


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.


People across the world opened their hearts and wallets to give millions of dollars to victims, jamming phone lines and websites and outpacing their own governments in their generosity.


Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee said it had collected more than US$39 million ($54.9 million), less than a day after launching an appeal on behalf of 12 top British charities.


"It's quite a phenomenal response," a spokeswoman said.


Amazon.com collected US$4.8 million in donations from online shoppers at its website.


Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called for an emergency Group of Eight meeting so the rich nations could discuss aid and possible debt reduction after "the worst cataclysm of the modern era". But Britain, which takes over the G8 leadership on January 1, said no meeting was planned.


While villagers and fishermen suffered devastation, losses among foreign tourists, essential to local economies, mounted.


Prime Minister Goran Persson, his government under fire over its tardy response, said more than 1000 Swedes may have died. Some 5000 tourists, mostly Europeans, are still missing four days after walls of water devastated beach resorts.


Indonesia's Health Ministry said just under 80,000 people had died in the northern Aceh province that was close to the undersea quake, some 28,000 more than previously announced.


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 city. 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," Usman, 43, said.


Residents of the city 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," Kaspian, 26, said.


Rumours, 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 Sunday'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 more than 27,000 have been killed. Thousands fled inland from the coast.


"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 Bank offered US$250 million in relief, bringing total international aid to nearly US$500m. Representatives of 18 United Nations agencies consulted and Secretary-General Kofi Annan held a video conference with members of a four-country coalition announced by United States President George W Bush on Wednesday.



- REUTERS