Tsunami Death Toll Climbs to 50,000 [View All]

[Stephanie]

1 minute ago
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By LELY T. DJUHARI, Associated Press Writer

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Mourners in Sri Lanka buried their dead with bare hands Tuesday while displaced and hungry islanders in Indonesia looted stores following explosive tidal waves that the United Nations (news - web sites) said may be history's costliest natural disaster. The death toll rose dramatically to more than 50,000 and officials expected it to rise further.

A dozen nations in a band of destruction from Southeast Asia to Africa tallied corpses at tropical beaches, devastated villages and choked hospital morgues — with 10,000 dead found in a single Indonesian town, according to one government agency.

Indonesia's Health Ministry said in a statement early Wednesday that 27,178 people has been killed on Sumatra island, which was closest to the earthquake's epicenter. But the ministry said this figure did not include data from districts on the island's hard-hit western coast, including the town of Melulaboh.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20041228/ap_on_re_as/quake_tidal_waves


Unfathomable.