50,000 Plus
The tsunami death toll is now over 50,000. I'm hoping some western aide moves in fast to prevent further catastrophe.

UN warns disease could double number of people killed by Asian quake, tsunamis

Canadian Press
Tuesday, December 28, 2004


BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (CP) - Thousands of bodies lay rotting and unidentified on lawns and streets of Indonesia's battered Sumatra island Wednesday and authorities called out bulldozers to dig mass graves, as the number killed in a mammoth earthquake and tsunami soared above 58,000 with tens of thousands still missing.

The UN health agency warned disease could double the toll yet again. Across a dozen countries, millions of people whose homes were swept away or wrecked by raging walls of water Sunday struggled to find shelter. "My mother, no word! My sisters, brothers, aunt, uncle, grandmother, no word!" yelled a woman at a makeshift morgue in Lhokseumawe, Indonesia.

"Where are they? Where are they?"

"I don't know where to start looking."

Along India's southeastern coast, hospital teams stood by to help the injured but three days after the disaster still spent most of their time tabulating the dead as ambulances hauled in more bodies. A French cultural centre in Thailand's capital provided clothes and food for tourist families left with nothing when the sea battered southern beach resorts.

One of the most dramatic illustrations of nature's force came to light Tuesday when reporters reached the scene of a Sri Lankan train carrying beachgoers that was swept into a marsh by a wall of water Sunday, killing at least 802. Eight rust-coloured cars lay in deep pools of water in a ravaged palm grove, torn off wheels and baggage scattered among the twisted rails.

"Is this the fate that we had planned for? My darling, you were the only hope for me," a young man cried for one of the train victims - his university sweetheart - as Buddhist monks prayed nearby.