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BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Ocean disaster toll hits 114,000
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Last Updated: Thursday, 30 December, 2004, 15:53 GMT
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Ocean disaster toll hits 114,000
Thai woman breaks down over the telephone
The hunt for survivors is drawing to a close
New figures reveal at least 114,000 people died in Sunday's ocean disaster.

Officials in Indonesia say the number killed there is now nearly 80,000 and the death toll from the worst-hit area is set to rise still higher.

Aid workers are meanwhile struggling to reach the millions who survived the devastating waves but who now have little water, food or shelter.

Relief teams and supplies are pouring into the region but have yet to reach the hardest-hit and most remote areas.

There are reports of desperate people fighting over aid. Aftershocks and fears of new tsunamis have sown panic among survivors in Indonesia and India.

Across the region thousands remain unaccounted for since the 9.0 magnitude undersea earthquake off Sumatra that forced a wall of water smashing into coastlines as far away as east Africa.

The US, Australia, Japan and India have formed a coalition to provide relief.

Foreign governments have pledged more than $220m in aid - $35m of which is promised by the US.

City of corpses

Health ministry officials in Indonesia put the new death toll at 79,940.

NATURAL DISASTERS
2004 Asian quake disaster - toll so far exceeds 110,000
2003 earthquake in Bam, Iran - official casualty figure is 26,271
1976 Earthquake in Tangshan, China, kills 242,000
1970 Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 500,000
1887 China's Yellow River breaks its banks in Huayan Kou killing 900,000
1826 Tsunami kills 27,000 in Japan
1815 Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora on Indonesia's Sumbawa Island kills 90,000
1556 Earthquake in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces kills 830,000

They explained that the figure had jumped by more than 20,000 after large numbers of bodies were found on Sumatra's remote north-west coast, the area of land closest to the epicentre of the earthquake that triggered the waves.

Government institutions in the region have collapsed and fuel supplies have almost run out, officials said.

The BBC's Andrew Harding in Banda Aceh says relief supplies are barely trickling into the city where drinking water is also scarce and corpses clog the streets.

A logistical nightmare awaits the massive aid operation, he says.

CONFIRMED DEATH TOLL
Indonesia: 79,940
Sri Lanka: 24,743
India: 7,330
Thailand: 2,394
Somalia: 120
Burma: 90
Maldives: 67
Malaysia: 65
Tanzania: 10
Seychelles: 1
Bangladesh: 2
Kenya: 1

There are reports of fighting among survivors over food in the city.

"There is no food here whatsoever. We need rice. We need medicine. I haven't eaten in two days," a local woman told Reuters news agency.

A lone airport serves the entire region and road links to many remote areas have been washed away by sea waters.

On Thursday, aftershocks off Indonesia triggered fresh panic among survivors in Aceh.

Frustration

Rumours of impending waves quickly spread to the two other countries which bore the brunt of Sunday's tsunamis - India and Sri Lanka.

KEY AID PLEDGES
EU $44m
US: $35m
Canada: $33m
Japan: $30m
UK: $28.9m
Australia: $27m
France: $20.4m
Denmark: $15.6m
Saudi Arabia: $10m
Norway: $6.6m
Taiwan: $5.1m
Finland: $3.4m
Kuwait: $2.1m
Netherlands: $2.6m
UAE: $2m
Ireland $1.3m
Singapore: $1.2m
Source: Reuters, United Nations

Indian officials issued a warning, prompting many people to flee coastal areas both in southern India and Sri Lanka.

Officials of the World Health Organization say as many as five million people are at risk throughout the region because they are unable to get water, food or adequate sanitation.

Several countries have seen their infrastructure shattered; countless roads and bridges have been swept away.

Stockpiles of supplies have begun to mount at some airports and distribution centres, where airlifts of aid have been held up by a shortage of helicopters.

The UN's relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, has said it will take another "two or three days" for the relief effort to get into full swing - by which time it may be too late for tens of thousands of people.

"We are doing very little at the moment," he said.

"I believe the frustration will be growing in the days and weeks ahead."

There are fears that epidemics will erupt because water supplies have been contaminated.

IMPACT OF THE EARTHQUAKE



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Wreckage piled up on roads is hindering aid efforts




FROM OTHER NEWS SITES:
Gulf Daily News Starvation is a real threat - 4 hrs ago
Irish Times* Aid teams in desperate race against disease - 11 hrs ago
CNN Victim: 'I haven't eaten in two days' - 11 hrs ago
Arab News Tsunami Death Toll Nears 100,000 - 15 hrs ago
ABCNEWS.com Asian Disaster Toll Could Top 100,000 -- Red Cross - 19 hrs ago
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