Survivors emerge, but death toll mounts

WHILE the walls of water that devoured Asian shorelines served as reminders of the fragility of life, fresh crops of survivors became a testament to its resilience yesterday.

Four Indonesians adrift in a boat for more than a week, dozens of villagers rescued by American troops, and a woman picked up by a Malaysian ship came to light as searchers switched the focus from finding the living to cataloguing the dead.

The international aid effort gathered momentum as former US Presidents George Bush senior and Bill Clinton were chosen to lead American fundraising efforts and US Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to attend a tsunami conference in Indonesia.