111 die after tsunami hits
2004-12-29 13:10
Arusha - Tidal waves that hit Africa's east coast, unleashed by a massive earthquake in southern Asia, killed at least 111 people - most of them in Somalia, officials said.
Somalia's Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi on Tuesday in Kenya said at least 100 Somalis died and an unknown number of fishermen went missing when the tidal waves hit Somalia's 1 000-km-long coastline stretching from Brava to Rasaseyr.
The tidal waves hit East Africa's shores on Sunday, triggered by a magnitude-9 undersea quake centred off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, about 4 500km across the Indian Ocean.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in Asia.
Alfred Tibaigana, regional police commander said in Tanzania, 10 people were killed, most of them while swimming off Dar es Salaam.
"Their bodies were recovered on Monday. He said others in a capsized boat were feared dead as well."
Assistance to 3 000 households
Alain Payette, official in President James Michel's office said on the island of Seychelles, two fishermen were missing and four Seychellois were hospitalised.
Jaspher Ombati of police said on Tuesday in Kenya, one person died in Malindi, about 420km southeast of the capital, Nairobi, and 50 fishing boats were destroyed.
Siddharth Chatterjee, a senior program officer with Unicef in Nairobi said on Tuesday, a team from the UN children's agency left Bossaso, about 1 120km northeast of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, to assess the situation in northeastern Somalia.
He said: "We are ready to provide assistance to 2 500 to 3 000 households."
Spokesperson Laura Melo said on Tuesday, the UN food agency sent by road from Bossaso, 31 metric tons of food to feed 2 000 people made homeless by the flooding in Hafun, 1 150km northeast of Somalia's capital Mogadishu.
Melo said the UN was planning an aerial assessment on Thursday to make an inventory of all the areas affected along the Somali coast.
Gedi said he would form a disaster management committee composed of Somali lawmakers and representatives of UN agencies to take charge of relief efforts.
'Death toll rises a day'
He said Somalis in the country, especially businessmen, had provided humanitarian aid to people made homeless by the flooding.
More than 150 people were injured and an unknown number were displaced, said Gedi, who was sworn in last Thursday.
Gedi was speaking in Nairobi, the temporary home of Somalia's transitional government and parliament because Somalia's capital is considered too dangerous.
His figures could not be independently confirmed.
On Tuesday, Ali Abdi Awaare, environment minister of the semiautonomous northeastern region of Puntland, said the official death toll for his region was 110, up from more than 50 a day earlier.
A presidential spokesperson, Yusuf Ismail, had said on Monday hundreds were killed and entire villages swept away.
- SAPA