After the Tsunami Bodies Stack Up as Death Count Passes 120,000
As staggering as the Indian Ocean tragedy now seems, it is likely to get worse. Many remote regions have not yet been reached by aid workers and Red Cross officials fear the worst. Entire villages have been washed away and rescuers say the living are now scrambling to get food and clean water.
By Thurday, the death toll had climbed to 114,000, and the United Nations says children -- who were weaker and unable to fight the force of the waves -- make up about one-third of the victims.
So far, the international community has offered $220 million in aid and has sent planes and boats laden with relief supplies. It is history's largest relief operation. But, even it may not be sufficient.
Fotostrecke: Brennende Leichen, zerstörte Häuser
Indonesia has suffered the greatest loss so far, with the number of known deaths reaching 45,000. That's more than half of the total dead. The count does not include much of the devastated west coast of Sumatra, the area closest to the epicentre of the 9.0 earthquake that unleashed the over 20-foot high tsunami on Sunday. An accurate tally may never come. Thousands of corpses rotting in the tropical heat have already been tossed into mass graves. UNICEF has said the dead in Indonesia alone may number 80,000.
Across the Bay of Bengal, on Sri Lanka, the deaths reached 22,800. India reported 7,300 and Thailand 1,800. Thailand's prime minister, however, said the figure was very low and would likely be upped to about 6,800. An additional 300 died in Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya.
The tsunami marks the world's biggest disaster since a cyclone killed 130,000 people in Bangladesh in 1991.
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who narrowly escaped the devastation while on a Sri Lanka holiday, said the scene looked like Germany after World War II. "It reminded me of the images from the war that I lived through as a youth. It looked like a bomb attack," he told Germany's most popular newspaper, the tabloid, Bild.
In all, 11 countries were hit and people from across the globe -- including thousands of European tourists -- have gone missing. Sweden reported that 20,000 to 30,000 of its citizens were on vacation in the area. More than 1,000 are still missing. By Thursday, hope of finding them and others was running out.
Some of those searching clung to survival stories -- like the tale of the 2-year-old Swedish boy plucked from the water by a Thai villager, taken to a hospital by an American couple and then reunited with his father. On Wednesday, hope soared when an air force helicopter rescued Sri Lankan fisherman Sini Mohammed Sarfudeen, who had spent three days clinging to his wave-tossed boat. Perhaps, indeed, there would be more happy moments.
Authorities, however, are not optimistic. While the shattered tourist families will return home, those left may face the danger of diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever caused by contaminated food and water, they said. Supplies are being distributed, but there is unlikely enough to go around. And, many people in the remote corners may prove unreachable.
