Millions homeless as tsunami toll nears 119,000, new quakes scare survivors.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia : Up to five million people were displaced by tsunamis that killed nearly 119,000 people in Asia, officials said, as aftershocks rocked traumatised survivors. "We estimate that up to five million people have been displaced and are at risk across the region," Harsaran Pandey, spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation in South Asia, told AFP.

The global health body said between one and three million of those affected were in Indonesia, with another one million in Sri Lanka. The rest were spread between India, the Maldives and other nations. The estimate came as a government warning that high waves could strike again from aftershocks rattling Indonesia sent thousands fleeing in panic from the coastline of southern India. "The waves are coming," people yelled as they fled on foot, buses and any transport they could find.

The latest quake, measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, hit northwest of Indonesia's Sumatra island city of Medan shortly after 4:00 am (2100 GMT Wednesday), after two quakes measuring 5.1 and 5.2 the previous evening, but experts said they were not big enough to cause tidal waves. Sunday's killer tsunamis were unleashed by a gigantic 9.0 magnitude tectonic shift 150 kilometres (93 miles) off Sumatra, rolling on across the Indian Ocean to wreak havoc in 11 countries.

Nearly 119,000 people are confirmed dead, thousands are missing, and the toll is expected to rise sharply with disease threatening the lives of survivors. Remarkable tales of heartwarming generosity emerged amid the chaos and grief. Throughout the hardest-hit countries of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India, people came forward to help, donating clothes and food while tending the wounded. Others set about the more grisly task of disposing of the bloated corpses that litter beaches and streets and threaten public health.

At least 710 foreigners are among the 2,394 confirmed to have died after tidal waves battered southwest Thailand, the interior ministry said Thursday, with 6,130 still missing, many of them foreigners. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra suggested Thailand's final death toll could approach 6,800, as European nations joined Thais in trying to trace thousands of missing people. Sweden and Germany have each said that more than 1,000 of their nationals are unaccounted for, while 446 Norwegians and several hundred French are missing. Across the region families opened their homes to bewildered survivors and strangers offered the shirts off their backs to foreigners in swimwear left with nothing but their lives.

Children have been among the hardest hit by the tragedy, swept off their feet by the power of the waves and drowned, or losing their parents and siblings. And for some, the killer tsunamis are coming again, over and over, in their nightmares. Malaysian Rahibah Osman's 11-year-old son, Mohamad Fikri Rahim, who was caught by ferocious waves "as high as coconut trees and blackened with mud", has troubled dreams in Penang General Hospital after being saved by his father.

The death toll among Singaporeans has risen to 7 - 5 in Phuket, 1 in India and 1 in Sri Lanka. 227 remain uncontactable and PM Lee says the country has to be prepared for the worst. (30 Dec 2004)

it's quite scary to read of this disaster. as if another war had taken place. sometimes reading of so much death makes one numb. my heart & prayers go out to these people and their relatives.