Dozens of bloated bodies littered the streets of Banda Aceh city today as soldiers and volunteers searched for survivors of an earthquake and tidal waves that killed more than 5,000 people in Indonesia.

Rescuers piled up bodies along the tropical coasts of southern Asia as the death toll from the biggest quake in four decades that triggered killer tidal waves passed 20,000 people, more than half of them in Sri Lanka.

Dozens of bloated bodies littered the streets of Indonesia’s Banda Aceh city today as soldiers and desperate relatives searched for survivors of an earthquake and tidal waves that killed at least 4,491 people.