Aftermath of Asia disaster

February 3, 2005

Official bungling faulted in slow delivery of aid

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Bureaucratic bungling has blocked food and medicine from reaching 70 percent of Sri Lankans left destitute by the tsunami, a government official said yesterday, while nine survivors of the disaster were found deep in a jungle on a remote Indian island.

January 20, 2005

Indonesia raises toll by 70,000

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia's Health Ministry declared yesterday that more than 70,000 people previously listed as missing are dead, significantly raising its estimate for the death toll from last month's earthquakes and tsunamis.

January 13, 2005

Asia Disaster

Amid devastation, signs of life return

MEULABOH, Indonesia -- Amid the haunting reminders of loss here along the coast of north Sumatra, reminders of life are reappearing too.

January 13, 2005

Sri Lanka

Bank launders money: washing, drying currency

GALLE, Sri Lanka -- It was another hot, sunny morning yesterday at the surviving Commercial Bank branch in town, a good time for leaving checks and deposit slips out to dry and to be sorted.

January 12, 2005

Accountants to track tsunami aid

GENEVA - The record generosity toward tsunami victims - now at more than $4 billion pledged - should set the standard for caring for the world's most desperate people, the United Nations' humanitarian chief said yesterday. But aid group Oxfam said it fears the money might simply be rerouted from existing funds for Africa.

January 11, 2005

Influx of foreigners troubles Indonesia

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Indonesia's military asked aid groups in tsunami-stricken areas yesterday to draw up a list of international relief workers - and to report on their movements - as fears arose for the safety of foreigners helping survivors in a region racked by rebellion long before the waves hit.

January 11, 2005

Understanding nature's power

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka - Not long after losing 24 relatives, including his wife and three of his four children, Mohammad Sumanthra Jainudeen stood over the freshly made grave of his 16-year-old daughter and proclaimed that he was very happy.

January 10, 2005

Conflicts threaten tsunami aid work

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Indonesia warned aid workers yesterday that separatist rebels have taken shelter in camps for survivors, while a burst of violence hit Sri Lanka, signaling a potential resurgence of long-simmering rebellions in both tsunami-hit countries that could hamper help for victims of the disaster.

January 7, 2005

Asia Disaster

At Phillips seafood, tsunamis hit close to home

In devastated villages of southeast India yesterday, the head of Phillips Foods Inc.'s India division spent the day on a truck, delivering rice and water. The head of Phillips in Thailand did the same, in Thai fishing villages where the homes of Phillips employees were washed away.

January 7, 2005

SCIENCE

Our small, sensitive planet

In the hours after last month's Sumatra earthquake, an astonishing report began to circulate: So potent was the undersea jolt that it disrupted the planet's rotation, causing the day to shorten ever so slightly.

January 6, 2005

Asia Disaster

Need for careful rebuilding also applies to young souls

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka - On the last day of their lives, the friends and playmates of 11-year-old Kirishanthini were at an orphanage overlooking a peaceful lagoon near the sea.

January 6, 2005

Tsunami aid pledges top $3 billion

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Australia promised $764 million - the largest government pledge - to the tsunami relief effort, topping a $674 million German aid package on the eve of a crucial donors conference today. World leaders were competing to head the donors list as summit participants got firsthand looks at the apocalyptic landscapes carved out by South Asia's tsunamis.

2:05 PM EST, January 6, 2005

Ancient Jarawa tribe survives tsunami

JIRKATANG, India -- Armed with bows and arrows, seven men from the ancient Jarawa tribe came out of the forest Thursday for the first time since India's isolated Anadaman and Nicobar islands were shaken by an earthquake and battered by a tsunami.

January 5, 2005

Asia Disaster

New aid bottleneck is emerging at hospitals

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Haggard and dehydrated survivors of Asia's tsunami catastrophe flooded hospitals in the disaster zone yesterday, posing a new challenge for the global relief operation.

January 5, 2005

Unprecedented giving by individual donors

The images are haunting, devastation compelling enough to trigger millions in donations to aid the communities in South and Southeast Asia victim to last week's earthquake and subsequent tsunamis.

January 4, 2005

Easing southern Asia's powerful thirst

Sri Lanka's top beer producer built its reputation on its chilled lagers and full-bodied stouts. But soon after last week's catastrophe, when a tsunami struck the nation's coastline, executives at Lion Brewery in Colombo knew that the best way they could offer assistance was to stop brewing beer - and start bottling water.

January 4, 2005

At disaster sites, leaders try to help while numb with grief

HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka - For hours that first day, the Rev. Indika Anthony loaded up his pickup truck with dead bodies. Some were piled like cargo in the back. But, much worse for the priest, others were seated like passengers in the front, stuffed even into the middle seat next to him as he drove away, his white cassock soaked in blood.

December 30, 2004

Asia Disaster

Big relief effort, slow start

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- As the world scrambled to the rescue, survivors fought over packs of noodles in quake-stricken Indonesian streets yesterday, while relief supplies piled up at the airport for lack of cars, gas or passable roads to move them. The official death toll across 12 countries soared to more than 80,000, and the Red Cross predicted that it could pass 100,000.

December 30, 2004

A world away from calamity, a frantic search

When Sandy Rubini last heard from her brother, Randy, by e-mail on Dec. 16, he was planning to spend Christmas on the southern beaches of Thailand.

December 29, 2004

Wall of water tossed train, killing hundreds

TELWATTA, Sri Lanka -- The train known as the Queen of the Sea chugged slowly up the sandy, palm-fringed coast of eastern Sri Lanka, carrying hundreds of residents from the capital to visit relatives or enjoy a day at the sunny resorts near the town of Galle.

December 29, 2004