Tsunami toll passes quarter million
The number of people presumed dead in December’s Asian tsunami has risen to more than 289,000, Indonesian authorities say.
Indonesia was hardest-hit by the 26 December quake and tsunami, with 236,012 people listed as dead or missing.
According to the health ministry on Tuesday, the missing would only be confirmed dead after a year.
Thailand‘s toll remained at 5393 confirmed dead. A further 3071 people were listed as missing, more than 1000 of them foreigners.
The toll in Sri Lanka, which was second hardest hit by the catastrophe, stood at 30,957, according to the Centre for National Operations.
The number of people listed as missing was 5637, but many were expected to be among those never formally identified, hurriedly buried and included in the confirmed toll.
Missing declared dead
In neighbouring India, the official toll has reached 10,749 with 5640 still reported missing and feared dead.
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India’s toll has reached 10,749 |
The government said on Monday it would make up its final casualty figures in about a week, in which it is expected to declare the missing dead.
Myanmar has said 61 people were killed in the tsunami, against an estimated 90 deaths according to the United Nations.
At least 82 people were killed and another 26 were missing in the Maldives.
Sixty-eight people were dead in Malaysia, most of them in Penang, according to police, while Bangladesh reported two deaths.
Fatalities also occurred on the east coast of Africa where 298 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya.
Relief workers have said they believe the figure for Somali fatalities to be exaggerated.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, making it the largest quake worldwide in four decades.