Home>News Center>World
         
 

Toll tops 175,000, Sri Lanka adds thousands
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-17 20:03

Sri Lanka's tsunami death toll shot up on Monday as officials said the more they cleared up, the more bodies they found.

The island added another 7,275 victims to its list of the dead, taking the national toll over 38,000 and the overall toll around Indian Ocean nations to 175,458.


Refugee children try to catch relief goods tossed from an Australian military helicopter Monday, Jan. 17, 2005 in a rice paddy in Lampaya, outskirts of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. [AP]

"We are coming across dead bodies on a daily basis as we clear the rubble," said Tilak Ranavirajah, a senior public security ministry official.

Hardest-hit Indonesia has steadily raised its total, but Sri Lanka's body count had stabilized around 30,000 until Monday.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz flew to the island to see the clean-up efforts in the southern port of Galle.

Sri Lanka said it would begin its tsunami reconstruction phase on Wednesday in the obliterated town of Hambantota.

"We were not prepared at all ... to face a disaster like this," said President Chandrika Kumaratunga. "The people of this country faced it effectively, they are in a position to rebuild."

It is 22 days since a powerful earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island triggered the deadliest waves on record that hit more than a dozen countries from Asia to Africa.

Sri Lankans have now begun rebuilding tsunami-hit homes and hotels close to the shore, in defiance of a government ban.

"I'm worried about my family but I'm also worried about the future of my children. This is my business. How else will I protect and feed my children?" said Ranjith Premakumara, 28, rebuilding a guest house on its old foundations just 30 meters (yards) from the beach in the southern town of Paiyagala South.

RELATIVES NEED BODIES

In Thailand, Prime Minister Goran Persson of Sweden -- which lost hundreds of people -- visited a Buddhist temple turned mortuary with his Norwegian and Finnish counterparts, Kjell Magne Bondevik and Matti Vanhanen.

It houses hundreds of corpses from nearby Khao Lak resort, which forensics experts are trying to identify -- crucial for families left without a body to grieve over.

"I'm impressed and I'm also extremely humbled because they're doing a very difficult job here under difficult circumstances," Persson said.

The trio was greeted by angry villagers demonstrating against Thai plans to move the mortuary and forensic operation from the temple to Phuket island, two hours drive to the south.

Nearly 2,000 Swedes are dead or unaccounted for. The tsunami looks set to be the greatest national tragedy in two centuries for a country that stayed neutral in the world wars.

Tens of thousands of bodies around the region may never be recovered, worsening the trauma.

In the Indian town of Seruthur, Lakshmi Kolandavelu refuses to believe her husband when he says their two-year-old son, torn from her arms by the waves and missing, is dead and probably buried in a mass grave with three of his four siblings.

"We never found their bodies," she says, shaking her head.

"The sea goddess gave us five children and snatched back four," says her husband.

TEARS AND DEEDS

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the tsunami brought tragedy but also heroism in Sumatra's Aceh province.

"To this day, all of Indonesia is united in tears and deeds," he said.

His government sought at the weekend to reassure U.S. and other foreign troops bringing relief in Aceh -- an area suffering a long-running separatist rebellion -- that it did not plan to send them home by late March, as one official earlier said.

After talks with Wolfowitz, who visited Aceh, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said there was no deadline but a March 26 target for Indonesia to take over most of the aid effort.

Mark Collins, head of Aceh operations for relief group AusAID, said things were slowly looking up.

"There has been a great deal of progress," he said. "Immediate needs of foods and shelter are being met."

"We have been very fortunate there has been no widespread outbreak of diarrhoea, or gastro-intestinal diseases so far," he said, suggesting that this was because local people had taken in as many of the homeless as they could to look after them.

Indonesian soldiers fumigated parts of the provincial capital Banda Aceh. "The purpose is to kill the insects, mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats and flies," soldier Dwi Joko said.

KOBE GRIEF

In Japan, Kobe city residents marked the 10th anniversary of their own quake in solemn pre-dawn ceremonies, remembering their 6,433 dead and praying for the tsunami's victims.

"I couldn't bear to see the news, how hard it is for them," said Tomiko Fujimoto, whose son died in Kobe. "It made me think of everything all over again."

Kobe's experience -- of a smaller disaster in a rich nation -- made clear how hard the future may be for tsunami survivors.

"The 10 years have been both short and long. We've worked so hard to try and get our lives back," Fujimoto said.



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Cross-Straits jets ready for take-off

 

   
 

Zhao Ziyang, 85, passes away in Beijing

 

   
 

'Go-west' speeds up in next five years

 

   
 

80 officials entangled in bank loan swindle

 

   
 

Party issues outline to fight corruption

 

   
 

Anti-gambling war forces 84 casinos to close

 

   
  Toll tops 175,000 as Sri Lanka adds thousands
   
  Israel holds off on action in Gaza Strip
   
  Iraq is Bush's Vietnam: Senator Kennedy
   
  U.S. arrests dozens ahead of Iraq vote
   
  Ukraine court to rule on Yushchenko taking power
   
  U.S. military releases about 80 Afghans
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 激情综合色五月丁香六月欧美| 久久久噜噜噜久久熟女AA片| 精品久久久久香蕉网| 国产国语一级毛片全部| 2022男人天堂| 无限看片在线版免费视频大全| 亚洲人成电影在线观看青青 | 拍拍拍无挡免费视频网站| 亚洲精品午夜久久久伊人| 高h全肉动漫在线观看最新| 小帅男同志chinesecouple| 久久久婷婷五月亚洲97号色| 最近中文字幕mv图| 加勒比一本大道香蕉在线视频 | 99久久精品日本一区二区免费| 小尤奈私拍视频在线观看| 中文字幕曰产乱码| 日本肉体裸交xxxxbbbb| 九九热精品国产| 欧美三级韩国三级日本三斤| 亚洲欧洲国产成人精品| 污污的视频在线播放| 交性大片欧美网| 芬兰bbw搡bbbb搡bbbb| 国产成人久久久精品二区三区| 日本三级视频网站| 国产精品一区二区av| 在免费jizzjizz在线播| 婷婷免费高清视频在线观看| 中文字幕日韩精品麻豆系列| 日本不卡高清中文字幕免费| 久久国产免费观看精品| 欧美精品在线免费观看| 亚洲精品美女久久久久99| 老外毛片免费视频播放| 国产产一区二区三区久久毛片国语| 黑人一个接一个上来糟蹋| 国产成人综合精品| 精品国产一二三区在线影院| 国产熟睡乱子伦视频| 久久综合热88|