HONG KONG, Dec. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Great earthquake and deadly tsunamis it triggered Sunday has left over 22,000 people dead and millions affected across South and South East Asia Monday.

    The quake and tsunamis struck Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and other places.

    In Sri Lanka, the death toll has already risen to 10,029, a military spokesman was quoted by local media as saying.

    Earlier in the day, defense military sources said at least 5,880 people had been killed in Sri Lanka as a huge tsunami triggered by the world's strongest earthquake in 40 years lashed coastlines of the country.

    The worst tsunami has also killed 70 foreign tourists, including at least nine Japanese, the state tourist board said.

    "We airlifted them yesterday and we are taking fingerprints at the moment," said an official from the Sri Lanka Tourist Board.

    He said most of them had died in the island's eastern part and officials were hampered by damaged communication lines in their rescue efforts.

    Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga who is on a private visit to Britain is to cut short her visit and to return to Sri Lanka, the president office said here earlier.

    Kumaratunga has called for international assistance in the faceof the country's worst ever humanitarian disaster and declared a state of "national disaster."

    Soon after the tidal waves hit, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa traveled to the southern coastal areas on a special Air Force helicopter. He instructed local authorities to provide immediate relief to the people.

    The towns of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara along with the southern towns of Matara and Galle are the worst hit.

    Government relief agencies and Security Forces launched an immediate relief and rescue operation as the enormity of the disaster became apparent.

    The President's Secretary, Public Security Ministry Secretary and Commanders of three Armed Forces are coordinating the relief effort. Steps have also been taken to widen the relief service operations jointly launched by the tree Armed Forces and Police.

    A large number of Air Force helicopters and Navy boats have been deployed to rescue the affected people. Security forces said the affected people are now being evacuated to safe places.

    Massive sea waves, triggered by an earthquakes in Southeast Asia, crashed into coastal villages over a wide area of Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 2,500 people the same day and displacing one million others.

    Relief operations were launched on a massive scale in the area shit by tsunami tidal waves as the toll rose rapidly to 6,800 in India as scores of bodies were recovered in Tamil Nadu and Andamanand Nicobar Islands, the Press Trust of India reported Monday.

    Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu reported a toll of 3,200 with the worst-hit Nagapattinam accounting for 1,700 deaths, followed by Kanniyakumari at 525, Cuddalore 400 and Chennai city 200.

    Pondicherry a union territory in the south of India, reported aloss of 377 lives, including 265 in Karaikal, an enclave surrounded by Tamil Nadu.

    The scale of tragedy in the far-flung Andaman and Nicobar Islands, located on the east coast of India, also came to light Monday with 2,000 more deaths reported, taking the overall figure to over 3,000.

    In Kerala state, located in south India, the toll was 138 and in southeastern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh 73.

    The state governments and the center launched Monday massive relief operations engaging defense forces and aircraft and ships to reach food, blankets, medicines and other material to people inthe affected areas.

    Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in Delhi a relief of 100,000 rupees (around 2200 US dollars) to the next of the kin of each of those killed in these regions from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.

    Manmohan Singh will visit the tsunami-hit areas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Kerala Tuesday.

    In Indonesia, at least 4,725 people have been killed the powerful earthquake and massive tidal wave.

    According to health ministry officials, most of the killed were residents of the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh, some 2,000 km west ofJakarta.

    Aceh, located at the northern tip of the Sumatara island, was the hardest hit by a tsunami, which was triggered by an 8.7-magnitude quake, according to Chinese State Seismological Bureau, off the Aceh coast.

    As Aceh's worst-affected city, Banda Aceh is now a scene of ruin and death with streets of pulverized buildings littered by the rotting bodies of children, women and men, said local reports.

    The city's airport and communication links, which have been seriously damaged due to the devastating earthquake, hampered the relief efforts to the hit area.

    Indonesia's military chief General Endriartono Sutarto called Monday for a temporary cease-fire between government troops and separatist rebels in Aceh so both sides in the long-running battle could help humanitarian efforts.

    According to health ministry officials, 44 medical specialists,including surgeons, obstetricians, pediatricians, and radiologists,would be flown to Aceh Tuesday while the military would also provide a field hospital for the wounded.

    Nadyal Rusdal, who heads the government-formed humanitarian team for victims of natural disaster, said they expected the deathtoll could reach 5,000.

    "Residents in affected areas are being evacuated for fear of aftershocks," he said.

    Thousands of soldiers have been mobilized to rescue survivors along the coastal areas Monday, officials said, adding that the city urgently needed food, transportation and shelter as well as huge numbers of body bags for corpses.

    In Thailand, at least 839 people were killed and more than 7,200 injured by the tsunami on Sunday morning in southern Thailand,the Thai Interior Ministry said Monday.

    Earlier in the day, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said around 700 people were killed by tidal waves.

    Between 600 to 700 people were killed by strong waves hitting the country's southwest coast area, the prime minister said after an emergency meeting held in the heavily-hit resort island of Phuket.

    "I have asked the army to prepare 1,000 body bags," he told reporters.

    Thaksin, however, didn't give specific casualties caused by thetsunami triggered out by an earthquake in the sea close to northeastern Indonesia on Sunday morning.

    Local media also quoted rescue workers as saying that around 300 people probably died in the isolated resort island of Phi Phi.

    The Thai navy has sent warships and helicopters to rescue people trapped on the island and searched for those reportedly missing.

    Many of the dead and missing were foreign tourists spending their Christmas vacation in Thailand's southwestern coast that is famous for idyllic scenery.

    Maldives and Bangladesh also reported deaths of more than 30 people.

    The earthquake, with a magnitude of 8.7 according to the China Earthquake Administration, hit at 6:58 am (0058 GMT) Sunday off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

    The tsunamis swept across the Indian Ocean hours later without any warning. In some areas, walls of water up to 10 meters uprooted and swept away anything they met.

Enditem