Tsunami's Carnage Is Vast

The city was without electricity, and hundreds of people were lined up at gas stations hoping to buy fuel. Hundreds were sleeping in makeshift tents by the roadsides. Others were camped in the center divider of the major four-lane highway running through the city. Residents searched through their destroyed homes, retrieving belongings in suitcases, plastic sacks and bags hung from poles. Others came to gawk at the city's main mosque, where the grounds were strewn with rubble and the minaret was damaged.

No aid efforts were visible early today. The city seemed calm.

In Sri Lanka, thousands of soldiers were deployed along the hard-hit southern and eastern shore of that country to help find the missing and prevent looting. Military official Daya Ratnayake said some looters told residents that another wave was imminent, only to rob their homes after they fled.

Udaya Nanayakkara, chairman of the Sri Lankan tourist board, said at least 72 foreign tourists were killed in Sri Lanka, but that figure was expected to rise.

The Indian toll was estimated at about 7,000, including 3,000 on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal close to the earthquake's epicenter. But military authorities on the islands say they believe the ultimate death toll there could exceed 10,000.

Reporters who flew to Andaman and Nicobar with defense officials and ruling Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday said they were told that 100 air force staffers had been washed out to sea when the tsunami struck their airbase.

A reporter with India's NDTV cable news station said a mob of at least 100 people swarmed Gandhi's car, demanding that the government move faster to deliver emergency relief aid.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a relief package of more than $116 million to help support survivors and families who lost loved ones in Sunday's tsunami. The government promised to pay more than $2,300 to the family of each person killed.

Southern India is used to dealing with disasters such as tropical storms, but the tsunami caused a calamity unseen in the region in living memory.

At least 27 aftershocks had followed Sunday's earthquake. Two large aftershocks occurred near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The suffering of thousands of homeless people in India's Cuddalore district grew worse Monday afternoon when a chilling rain started to fall, part of a slow-moving storm that stirred up the surf and raised fears of more big waves.