Tsunami Death Toll Passes 120,000
The death toll from Sunday's quake-tsunami devastation rocketed to more than 120,000 on Thursday as workers uncovered more bodies from Indonesia's Sumatra island.
The death toll from Sunday's quake-tsunami devastation rocketed to more than 120,000 on Thursday as workers uncovered more bodies from Indonesia's Sumatra island. Meanwhile, military ships and planes rushed to get desperately needed aid to Sumatra's ravaged coast, dropping food to remote villages still unreachable by rescue workers.
According to the Reuters, the increase came after Indonesia reported nearly 28,000 newly confirmed dead in Sumatra, which was closest to the epicenter of Sunday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake that set off massive tidal waves that obliterated seaside towns. The U.N. children's agency estimated some 60 percent of Banda Aceh--northern Sumatra's main city--was destroyed and 115 miles of the island's northwest coast—lined with villages—was inundated.
With around 80,000 dead, Indonesia was the worst hit of the 12 nations in southern Asia and East Africa, followed by Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. As of Thursday, Sri Lanka reported 24,700 dead, India more than 7,300 and Thailand around 2,400 — though that country's prime minister said he feared the toll would go to 6,800. A total of more than 300 were killed in Somalia, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Maldives, Tanzania, Seychelles, Bangladesh, and Kenya.
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With thousands still missing and fears that disease could bring a new wave of deaths, the total across the 12 nations was likely to rise.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said early Thursday that the tsunami death toll, which at the time was around 87,000, could double if epidemics broke out in the affected countries.
"I could say many, many, many people could die if we are not able to reach people in a timely manner with safe water for the prevention of death from water-borne diseases," said Harsaran Pandey, WHO regional spokeswoman in New Delhi.
According to Reuters, health officials say preventing outbreaks of diseases across tsunami-hit Asia is a race against time; however, contrary to popular belief, the thousands of rotting corpses do not pose the main threat. Instead, sewage-contaminated water is the main risk factor in the spread of deadly diseases like cholera, malaria and dengue fever and aid organizations are scrambling to get clean drinking water to the affected areas.
"Diseases are spread by contaminated water, drinking water and water used to clean food," said Pandey.
Reuters reports that WHO and other international aid bodies are shipping tons of water purification tablets to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while foreign navies are sending ships with desalination units to produce drinking water.
On Thursday, the global alliance ACT (Action by Churches) International, which mobilized humanitarian relief operations hours after the tragedy struck, launched a $8,217 million (USD) appeal to assist its members in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Burma in their relief assistance operations, as well as other countries that may require assistance through the ACT alliance
In Sri Lanka, ACT members from Europe and North America have airlifted supplies in, which include basic medicines, family shelter kits containing family tents and plastic sheeting, as well as blankets in support of the local ACT member in the country. Meanwhile, the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka has mobilized all its staff and hundreds of church volunteers to assist those who survived and are now in need of assistance.
In India, ACT member Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) has also mobilized teams of staff and its partner churches and network organizations. Distribution kitchens are up and running, providing food to people in the stricken areas, which include Kerala, Krishna Godawari in Andhra Pradesh, Madras Diocese and Chennai city
Based on information received from the assessment teams sent to the mainland coastal areas hit by the tsunamis, CASA will assist some 50,000 affected families.
"The response of CASA will be through food and non-food relief assistance, temporary shelters and post-crisis phase response through reconstruction of houses, cyclone shelters and rehabilitation through providing support for strengthening food security and livelihoods," CASA reported. "In food relief assistance, we plan to undertake feeding programs through 10 centers in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala."
Currently, ACT member Lutheran World Service India (LWSI) is distributing the most essential relief items to meet the basic needs of the people to 10,000 families in Tamil Nadu.
In a call to prayer and response, International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin said, “Our hearts are grieved anytime a disaster such as this brings such devastation and loss of life. Having served for 23 years in the affected countries makes the loss very personal for me."
Rankin added, “Our IMB personnel in the region are already on site in many locations, assessing the damage and evaluating what we can do as we work alongside local governments and Great Commission partner agencies. We are trusting Southern Baptists to respond with an outpouring of support to undergird the relief and rehabilitation projects that will follow in the days and weeks ahead."
Since Monday Southern Baptist relief workers have been working with others to aid the survivors. IMB initial efforts focused on delivering food, water, blankets and other essentials to coastal villages in southern Thailand and the heavily damaged resort area of Krabi.
IMB relief workers have requested an initial $125,000 in Southern Baptist disaster relief funds for aid in Thailand, Sri Lanka and other parts of Southeast Asia.
