Toll From Tsunami Rises Above 51,000

washingtonpost.com ^ | Tuesday, December 28, 2004 | John Lancaster

[crushelits]

Threat of Hunger, Disease Looms As Reeling Nations Appeal for Aid

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Dec. 28 -- Devastated coastal areas across South Asia struggled Tuesday to prevent hunger and outbreaks of disease as dazed survivors searched desperately for the missing two days after a tsunami surged across the region. The death toll rose to more than 51,000 people, a large percentage of them on this island nation in the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lankan officials said Tuesday that the freakish, earthquake-driven waves had killed more than 18,700 people here, a dramatic increase from earlier calculations. They said many more were injured or missing and appealed for international aid to cope with a disaster they declared was beyond their ability to handle on their own.

While southern and eastern portions of Sri Lanka were among the hardest-hit areas, the tsunami killed people in 10 countries from Malaysia -- near the epicenter of the quake that struck Sunday morning off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra -- to Somalia, on Africa's east coast more than 3,000 miles away. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned of the potential for waterborne diseases such as cholera.

[BJClinton]

Perhaps we could create a "Tsunami Daily Thread" as I believe this tragedy will be news for weeks.

[Michael81Dus]

This is so horrible, so awful. And thinking about the times ahead, the region will be suffering for at least a decade because of this... the tourism will break away and by that the people won´t get billions of $/€! Nearly noone was insured, so they have to rebuild all that on their own!

[No_Outcome_But_Victory]

Asian Tsunami Relief donations. (Vanity thread list)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1309697/posts?page=25

A list of organizations you can give to help!

[cajungirl]

When I saw this on the first news reports, I said at least 100 thousand would be dead. I cannot comprehend this or how long this will take for them to recover, if ever. This is unbelievable.

[No_Outcome_But_Victory]

Part of the reason the death toll is so high is that the tidal waves hit places like Chittagong, Bangledesh. I was in Bangledesh in 1991 as part of a humanitarian mission with the USMC after a tsumni. Those people live in grass huts, it is easy to see why it happens.

We can do our part by praying for them, and helping organizations that are not infested with bureaucracy and evil like the UN....

[randita]

How do they tabulate how many are dead -- is this the # that have ACTUALLY been found dead or the actual dead combined with the missing or what--anybody know?