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Tsunami death toll over 280 000
25/01/2005 08:49 - (SA)
Jakarta - The number of people presumed dead in last month's Asian tsunamis rose to more than 280 000 on Tuesday, with Indonesian authorities announcing a further increase in the number of dead and missing.
Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with a total 228 429 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said.
Thailand's toll edged up to 5 384 confirmed dead. A further 3 000 people were listed as missing, more than 1 000 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.
Never identified
The number of people listed as missing was 5 637, but many were expected to be among those never formally identified, hurriedly buried and included in the confirmed death toll.
In neighbouring India, the official death toll has reached 10 744 with 5 669 still reported missing and feared dead.
Myanmar has said 61 people were killed in the tsunamis, 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.
The United States 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.
Death toll
Indonesia: 228 429
Sri Lanka: 30 957
India: 16 413
Thailand: 5 384
Maldives: 82
Malaysia: 68
Myanmar: 61
Bangladesh: 2
Somalia: 298
Tanzania: 10
Kenya: 1
Total: 281 705
* The figures include 132 197 listed as missing in Indonesia and 5 669 in India
In addition, 3 134 people are listed as missing in Thailand and 5 637 in Sri Lanka but not included in the toll because of likely double counting.
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