The death toll in the Asian tsunami disaster topped 60 000 on Tuesday night, with world health chiefs warning that disease could kill as many people again if fresh water and medicine do not reach stricken areas soon. Across the Indian Ocean rim, stories of incredible devastation emerged as one of the largest and most complex relief efforts ever undertaken swung into action.
The worst-hit area appeared to be the Aceh province of Sumatra, where one town alone, Meulaboh, reported 10 000 dead. The Indonesian government put the death toll in the country at more than 27 000, with another 1 000 missing. Some towns still have not been heard from, and many bodies remain buried under rubble and mud.
The UN said that at least a third of the victims across the region could be children. Carol Bellamy, executive director of Unicef, said: ”We’re concerned about providing safe water and preventing the spread of disease. For children, the next few days will be the most critical.”
India’s death toll of 11 500 included at least 7 000 on the Andamans and Nicobar archipelago. On one island, the surge of water triggered by Sunday’s undersea earthquake killed two-thirds of the population. In Sri Lanka, the confirmed toll was 21 000 and rising, with another 2 000 in the Tamil north.
The government of the Maldives expressed concern that it still had not heard from 19 inhabited islands and said there was a real danger some of its low-lying islands could be lost forever. British disaster assessment experts were on standby last night to fly there.
In Thailand, where more than 1 500 people died, government meteorology officials admitted they deliberately played down the expected impact of the earthquake to protect the country’s tourism industry.
Rescue workers there yesterday recovered more than 300 bodies on the country’s Phi Phi island, made famous by the film The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Bloated bodies were washed ashore as hopes of finding survivors in the wrecked seafront hotels and shops faded.
Across the region, survivors scrambled to bury some of the dead quickly, though sheer numbers posed major logistical problems.
But the devastation from the deadliest known tsunami for more than 200 years was not confined to the immediate environs of the quake’s epicentre off Sumatra. Communities were ravaged as far away as Somalia in eastern Africa, almost 3 000 miles away. Lives were also lost in Kenya, the Seychelles, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Burma.
Eighteen Britons have been confirmed dead, 10 in Thailand, four in Sri Lanka and three in the Maldives. Among them was film director Lord Attenborough’s 14-year-old granddaughter, Lucy. His daughter, Jane, and her mother-in-law were missing feared dead. A six-year-old boy from St Ives on holiday with his family in Thailand was another confirmed as dead.
The World Health Organisation said the focus now should be on preventing the spread of disease, especially malaria and cholera. Dr David Nabarro, the WHO head of crisis operations, said: ”There is certainly a chance that as many could die from communicable diseases as from the tsunami.”
Dr Nabarro said the main threat was diseases associated with a lack of clean water and sanitation. Hospitals and health services were already overwhelmed and may not be able to cope with people who fall ill with disease, he warned. Aid and relief workers have begun to reach the stricken region and pressure is growing on the United Nations to take a strong lead in ensuring that the right supplies reach the most needy survivors.
Louis Michel, the EU commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid, called for international donors to hold an urgent conference to coordinate aid. He said: ”I am very anxious about the linkage between the emergency phase and the second phase of rehabilitation and reconstruction. If there is a gap between the two phases, I think it will have catastrophic consequences.”
Jan Egeland, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said billions of dollars would be needed to rebuild the shattered countries.
US scientists said the earthquake permanently moved the tectonic plates beneath the ocean, slightly shifting entire islands off Sumatra.
In Thailand Chcheep Mahachan, who works in the seismological bureau of the country’s meteorology department, said it played down the impact of the earthquake because officials were wary about provoking panic. ”A proper warning was not given,” he said. ”If we had given the warning and then it hadn’t happened, then it would have been the death of tourism in those areas.”
The department did issue a warning of an impending wave but the versions distributed to resorts and towns along the coast underestimated the likely threat.
The bureau chief, Sulamee Prachuab, said that her staff had overestimated previous threats. ”Five years ago, the meteorological department issued a warning of a possible tidal wave after an earthquake in Papua New Guinea, but the tourism authority complained that such a warning would hurt tourism,” she said. – Guardian Unlimited Â