Rueters: Death Toll Tops 11,300 After Asian Quake, Tsunami

[truthpusher]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041226/ts_nm/quake_dc_34

Death Toll Tops 11,300 After Asian Quake, Tsunami

5 minutes ago Top Stories - Reuters



By Simon Gardner

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - One of the most powerful earthquakes in history hit Asia Sunday, unleashing a tsunami which devastated coastal areas of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and tourist isles in Thailand, killing more than 11,300 people.

The tsunami, a menacing wall of water, wreaked death, chaos and destruction across southern Asia. Up to 30 feet high, the tsunami was triggered by an 8.9 magnitude underwater earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Emergency services struggled around the region popular with Western tourists flying east for Christmas sunshine. Some areas were totally unprepared and tourists found their holidays turned into disaster zones while anxious families at home awaited news.

In Sri Lanka, where the death toll reached 3,500, corpses floated in floodwaters, while thousands fled their homes and cars floated out to sea. Idyllic beaches were turned into fields of debris and destruction. Around 750,000 people were displaced.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041226/ts_nm/quake_dc_34