Questions will be raised, USAID's Fox said, by "the mere fact that people didn't have agreements to pick up the phone in Indonesia and call Sri Lanka and say, 'We just had a major seismic event and you better watch out.' "
Magnier reported from Colombo and Watson reported from Cuddalore. Times staff writers Richard C. Paddock in Banda Aceh, Sonni Efron in Washington, Barbara Demick in Seoul, Tony Perry in San Diego, Janet Stobart in London and Christian Retzlaff in Berlin and Times wire services contributed to this report.
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Waves of disaster
Survivors are burying the dead and officials are tallying the damages from the ÒmegathrustÓ quake and tsunami waves that flooded shores across the Indian Ocean over the weekend. HereÕs a look at the toll and how the waves spread across the region, which has no tsunami warning system:
Death toll
Preliminary figures, by country:
Country Deaths
Sri Lanka 12,500 India 7,000 Indonesia 5,700 Thailand 1,010 Malaysia 60 Maldives 43 Myanmar 57 Seychelles 3 Bangladesh 2 Somalia hundreds
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Worst natural disasters
HereÕs a look at the worldÕs worst known natural disasters, according to the ÒTop 10 of Everything, 2004Ó:
Type of No. of disaster Location Date deaths
Flood Huang He August 3.7 River, China 1931 million
Earthquake Near East/ May 20, 1.1 Mediterranean 1202 million
Volcanic Tambora, April eruption Indonesia 5-12, 92,000 1815
Tsunami Krakatoa, Aug.27, 36,380 Sumatra, Java 1883
Avalanche Alps, Italy 218B.C. 18,000
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Facts about the disaster
* The tsunamiÕs effects extended as far as Mexico, where the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported sea level fluctuations of well over 6 feet.
* UNICEF estimates at least one-third of those who died were children, and the proportion could be up to half. Children make up at least half of the population in Asia.
* It was the first tsunami in the Indian Ocean since 1883, when the Indonesian island of Krakatoa was destroyed by a volcanic eruption.
* U.S. scientists measured the quake at magnitude 9, the largest temblor in 40 years and the fourth largest since 1900.
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How the tsunami progressed across the Indian Ocean:
* Quake pushes up the ocean floor off Sumatra, displacing a very large column of water and creating the tsunami.
* Within 1.5 hours, the waves flood low-lying coastal areas of Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia.
