Pictures of the aftermath:
(1) INDONESIA:
Victims and debris fill Banda Aceh street.
(2) INDIA:
Tsunami victims from Cambal Bat and Nicobar, India, are evacuated in an Indian Air Force plane Tuesday.
(3) SRI LANKA:
Villagers and Buddhist monks search for the missing south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday.
Overturned vehicles and debris are spread throughout a bus stand in Galle, Sri Lanka, Tuesday.
Article of the disaster, posted by CNN.com on Tuesday, December 28, 2004:
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (CNN) — The number of dead in Indonesia has risen five-fold to 27,174, almost doubling the death toll from the massive underwater earthquake and the equally massive tsunami that followed it.
The latest numbers, confirmed by the Ministry of Health in Jakarta on Wednesday, push the final toll from Sunday’s catastrophe to over 56,000.
Officials could not reach some remote areas, like Indonesia’s Aceh province, India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Maldives, until Tuesday, and once there, they found scenes much worse than they imagined.
The “putrid stench of the dead” hung heavily Tuesday over Banda Aceh as officials slowly came to grips with the devastation.
The 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the western-most portion of Indonesia’s northern Sumatra Island early on Sunday.
“The center of Banda Aceh has been absolutely devastated,” said CNN’s Mike Chinoy from the capital of Aceh province. “There are still bodies lying in the street.”
As far away as Somalia on Africa’s east coast, reports trickled in of fishermen swept out to sea and swimmers lost.
Jan Egeland of the United Nations said entire villages were swept away in Somalia, and Kenya television reporter Lillian Odera said “hundreds were killed” there.
In all, at least 12 countries — including the Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Tanzania — were affected by the monstrous waves.
CNN has confirmed that the giant waves killed 56,029 people, and that number is expected to rise:
(1) Sri Lanka: 18,031
(2) India: At least 9,500
(3) Indonesia: 27,174
(4) Thailand: 1,010
(5) Myanmar: 90
(6) Malaysia: 65
(7) Maldives: 46
(8) Tanzania: 10
(9) Bangladesh: 2
(10) Somalia: Kenyan media reports hundreds dead
(11) Kenya: Kenyan media reports one death
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