Asian disaster toll climbs to 9,300

More than 9,300 people across Asia were killed today after one of the most powerful earthquakes on record triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into coastlines in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Malaysia.

Tourists, fishermen, hotels, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, centred off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where at least 2,200 people were killed by floods and collapsing buildings, officials said.

But the scope of the disaster became apparent only after waves as high as six metres crashed into coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea.

In Sri Lanka – some 1,600 kilometres west of the epicentre – the death toll stood at 4,500, according to police and Tamil Tiger rebels. One million more were affected by the surging wall of water, the government said.

Indian officials said more than 2,300 had been killed along the country’s southern coast. Another 289 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and two in Bangladesh.

Thousands of people were missing, many of them fishermen at sea, and rescue workers struggled against floodwaters to find and evacuate stranded victims.

The death toll climbed throughout the day and was expected to grow even higher as more bodies were discovered.

Hundreds of bodies were found on various beaches along India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, and more were expected to be washed in by the sea, officials said.

“I was shocked to see innumerable fishing boats flying on the shoulder of the waves, going back and forth into the sea, as if made of paper,” said P. Ramanamurthy, 40, a resident of the neighbouring Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

“Many boats were upturned, but fishermen were still holding on to them,” Ramanamurthy said. “They also were pushed into the sea. It was shocking.”

Among those killed along India’s Andhra Pradesh state were 32 people, including 15 children, who had gone into the sea for a Hindu religious bath to mark the full moon day, police said. They said 20,000 people were evacuated in four districts.

The US Geological Survey’s website recorded the magnitude 8.9 earthquake off the west coast of northern Sumatra, 1,620 kilometres (1,000 miles) northwest of Jakarta. It was centred 40 kilometres (25 miles) below the seabed. Aftershocks struck in the magnitude 7 range.

The earthquake was the world’s fifth most powerful since 1900 and the strongest since a 9.2 tremor slammed Alaska in 1964, US earthquake experts said.

The force of it shook unusually far afield, causing buildings to sway hundreds of miles away, from Singapore to the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, and in Bangladesh, hours after the region’s Christian communities had finished Christmas celebrations.

Initial damage centred on the Indonesian province of Aceh on northern Sumatra. Dozens of buildings were destroyed, but as elsewhere, much of the death toll appeared to come from onrushing floodwaters.

Towns nearest the epicentre were levelled by tidal waves, which killed at least 1,902 people and left bodies wedged in trees as the waters receded, Indonesian officials and witnesses said.

Officials warned the death toll could rise dramatically.

In Sri Lanka, the government called today’s events a national disaster and appealed for emergency relief.

Holidays turned to disaster in southern Thailand, which welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists to its southern beaches during the Christmas season.

At least 289 people died, 1,900 others were injured and thousands – reportedly including foreign tourists on diving excursions – were missing, authorities said.

In India, 2,016 people were killed, many swept away in boats, homes and vehicles, officials said.

The worst affected area was Tamil Nadu state where 1,567 people were killed, said the state’s top elected official, Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa.

High waves inundated the Maldives, a string of 1,192 coral atolls off the southwestern coast of India, injuring one Italian tourist and forcing the airport to close, an official said. A British man died from a heart attack minutes before the waves hit.

In Malaysia, authorities closed some beaches to the public after 42 people were swept away near the northern city of Penang.

The victims were believed to be mainly tourists and included some foreigners, a police spokesman said. Their identities were not immediately known.