'Quake one of most potent yet'

2004-12-26 17:33

Colombo - More than 7 000 people across Asia were killed on Sunday 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, centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where at least 1 902 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 meters crashed into coastal areas throughout the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea.

In Sri Lanka - about 1 600 km west of the epicentre - the death toll stood at 3 000, according to a Colombo police chief said.

One million more were affected by the surging wall of water, the government said.

Indian officials said as many as 1 900 had been killed along the southern coast. Another 198 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and 2 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.

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 Web site recorded the magnitude 8.9 earthquake - the most powerful anywhere in the world for the past four decades - off the west coast of northern Sumatra 1 620 km northwest of Jakarta. It was centered 40 km 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 temblor slammed Alaska in 1964, US earthquake experts said.

- SAPA