Relief workers from the United Nations, the Red Cross and numerous countries began arriving in the devastated region, and appeals went out for money, medicine and other assistance.
The U.S. Agency for International Development dispatched 21 people to assess the disaster and decide what kind of assistance would be needed. USAID has stored emergency supplies in the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates and is already shipping out items that will be needed, including water bladders to transport fresh water, plastic sheeting for temporary shelters, and food, said J. Edward Fox, assistant administrator for the agency.
Fox, speaking in Washington, said other urgent aid would probably include earthmoving equipment to clear away animal corpses and debris and prevent pools of standing water that could breed disease. Mass inoculations for children will also be needed.
"The aftermath potentially could kill as many people as the tsunami itself," he said.
To stave off contamination, officials in India's Cuddalore began burying bodies in pits, foregoing the usual Hindu cremation ceremony. Sri Lankans skipped the time-consuming routine of identifying bodies, instead taking photographs before burying them. Relatives will be asked to identify the bodies from the pictures.
"It's so painful to see these dead bodies," said C.U. Edirisingha, a marketing and promotion manager with the Sri Lankan tourist board in Colombo, capital of the island nation. He said the government had no choice but to quickly bury the victims because Sri Lanka lacked enough refrigerated facilities to hold so many bodies.
In Banda Aceh, the area of Indonesia hit hardest by the quake and tsunami, at least 80 corpses were visible today on one street alone, some covered with cardboard, plastic and pieces of cloth.
Some buildings collapsed from the temblor, and many others were crushed by the water that followed. Piles of debris 20 to 30 feet tall littered the city. A 75-foot wooden fishing boat had been carried 2 miles inland and slammed into a motorcycle dealership. Officials estimated that 3,000 people died in the city, which has a population of about 240,000.
Sri Hertati, 40, said she and her family ran out of the house when the earthquake hit. Suddenly, they heard people shouting down the street: "Run!" and "Water! Water! Water!"
"I ran, and everyone in the street ran," she said. Her sister, her sister's mother-in-law, two nephews and a niece perished. "We lost everything."
