HT THIS DAY: December 28, 2004 — Tsunami toll 25,000; 7,000 in India

Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled to cope with the catastrophe. Somalia, some 4,800 km away, reported hundreds of deaths

New Delhi/Colombo – RESCUERS PILED up bodies along southern Asian coastlines devastated by tidal waves that obliterated seaside towns and killed about 25,000 people in nine countries, and officials indicated on Monday that the death toll could climb far higher.

A screengrab of the Hindustan Times on December 28, 2004.

Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled to cope with the catastrophe. Somalia, some 4,800 km away, reported hundreds of deaths.

The death toll rose sharply a day after the magnitude 9 quake struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia.

Walls of water sped away from the quake’s epicenter at more than 800 kmph before crashing into the region’s shorelines, sweeping people and fishing villages out to sea.

The governments of Indonesia and Thailand conceded that public warnings came too late or not at all. But officials insisted they could not know the seriousness of the threat because no tsunami warning system exists for the Indian Ocean.

The international Red Cross said it was concerned about water-borne diseases like malaria and cholera.

Rescuers converged on beaches and islands throughout the region to search for survivors, and offers of aid poured in from around the globe, as troops in the region struggled to deliver urgently needed aid to afflicted areas.

The toll in Sri Lanka was over 12,000, India reported about 6,800 deaths and Indonesia 5,000. Thailand said hundreds of people were dead and thousands more were missing. Deaths also were reported in Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Somalia.

In Delhi, the UPA government announced an allocation of ₹500 crore for the National Calamity Contingency Fund towards relief and rehabilitation in the affected states. The Centre had earlier announced an ex-gratia payment of ₹1 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased.