Five million people wait for food and clean water

BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA - Up to five million people around the Indian Ocean waited for food and clean water on Thursday as nations hit by one of the biggest tsunamis on record rushed to bury their dead and avert the threat of disease.

Countries worldwide mobilised to send rescue teams, food and millions of dollars in aid to help survivors in the hardest-hit nations of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand cope with the aftermath of the century's worst natural disaster.

Anger began to be heard above the grief as families left with no homes or possessions wanted to know why help was taking so long to reach them.

"There is no food here whatsoever. We need rice. We need petrol. We need medicine. I haven't eaten in two days," said Vaitai Usman, a woman in her mid-30s, gesturing angrily at her filthy sarong, saying it was the last of her possessions, as relief teams began arriving in Indonesia's Banda Aceh city.

Indian Ocean nations rushed to recover bloated corpses from seawater, mud, collapsed buildings and other debris after being hit by a giant wave of water on Sunday triggered by a 9.0 magnitude underwater quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

"I would not be at all surprised that we will be on 100,000 (deaths) when we know what has happened on the (Indian) Andaman and Nicobar islands," Peter Rees of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

India's High Commissioner to Britain, Kamalesh Sharma, told CNN on Wednesday India's death toll was nearly 10,000 and expected to rise.

"On the mainland the figure has now crossed 6000 ... The most worrisome is the Andaman and Nicobar islands where the figure has already reached 3000 fatalities," Sharma said.

The increase in Indian victims puts the overall toll so far at nearly 80,000 people.

With a large proportion of Asia's populations under 18, United Nations officials say up to a third of the victims could be children.

UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Jan Egeland said in New York aid workers have reached most of the stricken areas.

"It will take maybe 48 to 72 hours more to be able to respond to the tens of thousands of people who would like to have assistance today -- or yesterday, rather," he said.

"I believe the frustration will be growing in the days and the weeks ahead."

Fresh television pictures on Wednesday gave some idea of the unforgiving force of the killer wave, dragging terrified family members from each other's clutches, sweeping trucks and buses through buildings, flipping ships on to land.

The quake was so powerful, US scientists said it made the Earth jolt on its axis.

"Perhaps as many as five million people are not able to access what they need for living," David Nabarro, who heads the World Health Organisation's health crisis team, told Reuters.

"Either they cannot get water, or their sanitation is inadequate or they cannot get food."

Egeland said some 50 to 60 nations had given or pledged more than US$220 million ($312.4 million) in cash.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and south India faced death tolls of catastrophic proportions. Hundreds of people were also killed in the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia and more than 130 died in East Africa.

Thousands of tourists enjoying their Christmas holidays at Indian Ocean resorts, principally in Thailand, could be among the victims. Some 1500 Swedes, 1000 Germans, 600 Italians and nearly 450 Norwegians were missing.

- REUTERS