Third of casualties may be children

The enormous scale of the devastation that has hit the Indian Ocean emerged today as officials confirmed at least 68,000 people have died.

With tens of thousands still missing, many more seriously injured and the risk of diseases spreading, the United Nations believes the final death toll will double.

Unicef estimates that one third of those killed and injured are children. The Foreign Office said three Britons had died in the Maldives while the British consulate in Colombo said four were killed in Sri Lanka. Hundreds of British tourists have yet to be accounted for in the chaos.

Unable to wait for news, many British families are travelling to the region to try to track down relatives. One Londoner, 65-year-old Diana Gunasenais, paid £1,300 for a ticket to Sri Lanka in an attempt to find her daughter and future son-in-law who have not been in contact in the three days since thedisaster. “I must have tried dozens of times to get through to my daughter,î she said. “I just decided I had to go.î

The deadliest tsunami in more than 200 years — described as up to 10 metres high in some places— has prompted the UN’s biggest relief operation in its history.

The ocean surge was triggered by a 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, spreading across the Indian Ocean and beyond to Africa.

US scientists said the quake permanently moved tectonic plates
beneath the Indian Ocean by as much as 30 metres, shifting islands near Sumatra.

Indonesia

33,000 dead

The provincial capital of Banda Aceh has borne the brunt of the destruction.

More than one in three of the 33,000 killed and 100,000 injured in Indonesia lived in this city with a population of 300,000 on the north-east coast of the island of Sumatra.

Indonesian vice president Jusuf Kalla said one in 20 people who had been in the city - the governmental centre of the northern Aceh region - at the time of the tsunami are dead, with £100million needed immediately to prevent the scale of the disaster increasing yet further.

Speaking from Banda Aceh, Red Cross official Irman Rachman said: "We don't have enough people to bury the dead.

"All the corpses [lying] on the streets will lead to disease."

The government estimates more than a million people are homeless on Sumatra.

The coastal town of Meulaboh, also in the Aceh region, was the first to be hit by the tsunami.

With the epicentre only 65 miles to the west, it was engulfed without warning within minutes of the massive earthquake.

When aid workers managed to reach Meulaboh they found that at least 10,000 people had already been killed.

Fighting in the region against militant separatists has been suspended in the face of the scale of the tragedy.

Police chief Lt-Col Ali Taruna Jaya said: "We are not going to arrest the rebels.

"They are looking for members of their families, just like many of our police [officers] are looking for theirs.

"We are all crying together."

Thailand

Hundreds of tourists are believed to have died in Thailand after 1,200 bodies were found at one beach resort. Khao Lak beach in the southern Phang Nga province is thought to be the scene of the most severe casualties after its six-mile stretch of sand was engulfed.

Up to 500 staff and guests at the Sofitel Magic Lagoon Hotel are either missing or confirmed dead. Khao Lak district police chief Col Aroon Klaewvatee said the tsunami may have killed more than 3,000. Thailand's official death toll stands at more than 1,500, with 7,500 injured.

Sri Lanka

Up to 1,700 people were killed when a six-metre wall of water tore a packed train "to ribbons". The train between Colombo and Galle was full for a Buddhist holiday and was travelling on a line 200 metres from the west coast when the wave struck. The force threw the train's eight carriages off the rails and filled them with water. Chief medical officer at the scene Dr JM Jayatilake said: "Only a few people escaped - between 10 and 20."

The nation's death toll has risen to 21,715, with more than a million left homeless. Officials said the final toll may reach 25,000. Across Sri Lanka, doctors have been forced to take photographs of fingerprints of the dead so they can be identified after the bodies are released for burial.

India

In parts of the southern mainland authorities have given up counting the dead, instead disposing of bodies in mass burials and cremations.

At least 7,000 of the deaths are believed to have occurred on two islands in the Nicobars, which is closer to Myanmar and Indonesia than the mainland.

One in every five inhabitants in the Nicobar group of islands is believed to be either dead, injured or missing. At least 50,000 people live there. Car Nicobar island bore the brunt of the waves and 6,000 of the 30,000 residents are feared dead.

Maldives

National elections were postponed indefinitely in this Indian Ocean archipelago.

The low-lying nation is still surveying the damage, but it is already feared that dozens of the 1,190 small islands may have been totally consumed by the swollen sea. Three Britons have been confirmed dead. Government officials estimate the cost of rebuilding will exceed £350 million.

The capital Male was struck by 4ft-high waves. Much of the city was initially left under water and the airport was forced to close but later reopened.