Up to 241 people have been killed in Indonesia after a huge earthquake triggered a tsunami that washed people out to sea and tore children from their parents' arms.
At least 55 people, many of them children, were killed when the tsunami swept the coast around the Bireuen regency in Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, a local mayor told Reuters.
Bireuen lies near the coastal town of Lhokseumawe, which was also badly hit and where 53 people were killed, El Shinta radio said. Officials said at least 100 people had been injured there.
TS-2004-000147-LKA Tsunami,Sri Lanka: COLOMBO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - A huge earthquake hit southern Asia on Sunday, setting off a tsunami that drowned hundreds in Sri Lanka and India, sent Indonesians rushing to high ground and washed away bathers on the Thai tourist island of Phuket.
The earthquake of magnitude 8.5 as measured by the U.S. Geological Survey first struck at 7:59 a.m (0059 GMT) off the coast of the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra and swung north with multiple tremors into the Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean.
A wall of water up to 10 metres (30 feet) high set off by the tremor swept into Indonesia, over the coast of Sri Lanka and India and along the southern Thai tourist island of Phuket, leaving at least 650 people feared dead, officials said.
TS-2004-000147-IND Tsunami,India: Tsunami hits south India; over 1,000 dead. Tidal waves killed over a thousand people in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said on Sunday.
TS-2004-000147-THA Tsunami,Thailand: BANKGOK (Reuters) - An unprecedented tsunami tossed cars around like toys on Thailand's southern tourist playground and swept into luxury hotels on Phuket island, killing at least 120 people in the region, officials say.
More than 1,000 were injured and the government ordered the evacuation of the stricken areas, which included the main beaches of Phuket which are popular with Western and Asian tourists and at the height of their season.
Thai authorities sent out helicopters to assess the damage in a region of exotically shaped limestone islands scattered in the turquoise waters of the Andaman Sea popular with snorkellers and recreational divers among Thailand's annual 12 million tourists.
TS-2004-000147-MYS Tsunami,Malaysia: KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - At least 21 people have been killed and dozens missing and feared drowned after a tsunami triggered by a huge earthquake struck Malaysia's northern coast, officials say.
Most of those killed were swept out to sea as they picnicked at the popular Batu Ferringhi beach on the resort island of Penang.
"Seven more are still missing in the area," Penang Civil Defence Director Mohamad Johari Mohamad Taufik told Reuters.
TS-2004-000147-MDV Tsunami,Maldives: COLOMBO (Reuters) - Two-thirds of the Maldives capital has been flooded after a series of tsunami waves triggered by an earthquake swamped the low-lying Indian Ocean archipelago, the chief government spokesman has said.
"The damage is considerable," Ahmed Shaheed told Reuters. "The island is only about three feet (one metre) above sea level and a wave of water four feet (1.3 metres) high swept over us."
Male, which is 2 km (1.25 miles) long and 800 metres (half a mile) wide and home to 75,000 people, is bursting at the seams.
The streets of white-washed houses are heavily built up, living conditions often cramped and areas of communal open space sparse for the country's 300,000 people.
TS-2004-000147-BGD Tsunami,Bangladesh: According to Tsunami, at least 2 people have been killed in Bangladesh
TS-2004-000147-MMR Tsunami,Myanmar: YANGON, December 27, 2004 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government, breaking its usual silence on natural disasters, said on Monday 34 people were killed in the Irrawaddy delta by the tsunami which crashed into shores around the Indian Ocean,
The official announcement said 17 villages were damaged and 200 people were left homeless by Sunday's tsunami.
TS-2004-000147-SOM Tsunami,Somalia: At least 142 people were killed in Somalia in the deadly Indian Ocean sea surge last Sunday, officials say.
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