Indonesia today increased its tsunami death toll by 5,000 – pushing the worldwide toll from the December 26 disaster to more than 162,000 people – as the nation’s defence minister said there is no three-month deadline for foreign troops helping in the massive relief efforts to leave.

One of the biggest US military disaster relief missions in history kicked into high gear today as an aircraft carrier battle group arrived off the shores of tsunami-battered Sumatra and began launching helicopters heavy with supplies.

SCIENTISTS describe the devastating earthquake off the island of Sumatra as a "megathrust" - a grade reserved for the most powerful shifts in the Earth's crust and the equivalent of one million atomic bombs.

Scientists describe the devastating earthquake off the island of Sumatra as a “megathrust” – a grade reserved for the most powerful shifts in the Earth’s crust.