Tsunami toll tops 175,000 amid terror threat fears

ASIA’S tsunami death toll soared past 175,000 yesterday as Sri Lanka confirmed thousands more dead, while fears re-emerged over the safety of aid workers in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

Denmark said it had information “imminent” terror attacks were planned against aid workers in Aceh, where US and other foreign troops have joined relief teams clearing rubble from the December 26 disaster.

“We have received information from sources abroad that somebody would be planning an attack today,” Danish Foreign Ministry official Niels Erik Andersen said.

Indonesia’s foreign minister dismissed the report as “unfounded rumour.” But it re-ignited fears aid workers might become targets in Indonesia, which has seen a separatist rebellion in Aceh and bomb attacks targeting Westerners blamed on a group linked to al-Qaida.

US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz urged opponents in Indonesia and Sri Lanka - facing its own separatist rebellion - to concentrate on relief work.

“Hopefully they will realise on all sides that the stakes they are fighting for are relatively trivial,” he said on arriving in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan officials said another 7,275 people were known to have died, taking the national total to 38,195. The jump was due to a backlog in remote areas.

In a visit to a village near Galle in southern Sri Lanka, Wolfowitz clambered over rubble to reach a group of women outside a school.

He said: “We are very sorry about what happened. The whole world wants to help you, my country especially.”

Sri Lanka announced a reconstruction drive to build 15 towns on its southern and eastern coasts. The government will help people rebuild in safe areas.

Some Sri Lankans were already rebuilding, defying a ban to put up houses and hotels close to the shore.

“This is my business. How else will I protect and feed my children?” said Ranjith Premakumara, rebuilding a guest house just 30 metres from the beach in the town of Paiyagala South.

Relief work rumbled on in Banda Aceh, but monsoon rains flooded streets as drainage ditches ceased working. While the half of the city that took the worst damage from the wave remains largely closed, shopkeepers who did open reported good business.

“Even if it happens again, it’s just fate. We’ll face it. All of our customers were happy to see us open,” said 49-year-old restaurant owner Shugino.