Survivors emerge as hope had started to fade

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.

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