Another disaster; many more to follow.

regards,
Samir
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Tsunami hits south India; over 1,000 dead

December 26, 2004 15:21 IST
Last Updated: December 26, 2004 15:29 IST


Tidal waves killed over a thousand people in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and the 
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said on Sunday.

Tamil Nadu was the "worst affected", with possibly over 800 people killed, 
Patil said after a meeting of the Crisis Management Group in New Delhi.

In Andhra Pradesh, over 200 people were feared killed, he said.

In Andaman, as many as 14 people were killed, the minister said, adding that 
the damage due to the tidal wave in Car Nicobar and Greater Andamans was 
"higher", but details were yet to come in due to snapping of communication 
links.

Patil said that the coastal areas of West Bengal had also suffered damage, but 
he had not been able to contact Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

He said he would visit the affected areas either in the evening or Monday 
morning.

Patil said thousands of people were evacuated from the affected areas. He said 
the priority was to provide food, medicines and blankets to the victims.

Authorities in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were carrying out relief and 
rescue operation on a war footing, the minister said. 

The Centre, he said, was doing everything to mitigate the suffering of the 
people.

The tidal waves were triggered by a massive earthquake -- 8.5 on the Richter 
scale -- that hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

That was followed by at least six moderate to strong aftershocks.

Flash flooding in Indonesia claimed almost 100 lives, and many more deaths were 
feared in Thailand after huge waves hit the tourist resort of Phuket. The Thai 
government declared a state of emergency.

Six deaths were reported from Malaysia's Penang island.

Sri Lankan authorities reported 500 deaths from the waves.

Witnesses in the eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee reported waves as 
high as 40 feet, hitting inland as far as a kilometre.

The Lankan government declared a state of emergency.




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