BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Timeline: Asian tsunami disaster

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

One-Minute World News

News services
Your news when you want it

News Front Page

Africa

Americas

Asia-Pacific

Europe

Middle East

South Asia

Business

Health

Science & Environment

Technology

Entertainment

Also in the news

-----------------

Video and Audio

-----------------

Programmes

Have Your Say

In Pictures

Country Profiles

Special Reports

RELATED BBC SITES

Languages

Last Updated: Friday, 7 January, 2005, 12:17 GMT

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version

Timeline: Asian tsunami disaster

26 December, 2004

KNOWN DEATH TOLL 12000

27 December, 2004

Bewildered survivors hunt for their relatives.
With so many dead hospitals and mortuaries were unable to cope. Bodies were laid out in makeshift morgues in village temples and burials in mass graves began. As the waves hit families were split parents unable to hold on to their children couples torn apart. Throughout the region children were left searching for their parents while adults scoured the makeshift mortuaries looking for friends and relatives.

Watch/Listen:

28 December, 2004

KNOWN DEATH TOLL 50000

29 December, 2004

KNOWN DEATH TOLL 77000

30 December, 2004

UK public donates pound25m 47m in 24 hours to aid appeal.
Following TV and radio appeals the Disasters Emergency Committee's phone lines were overwhelmed with people calling in their donations. In the first 24 hours more than pound25m 47m had been raised and in subsequent days that figure continued to grow to over pound70m 132m. The UK government also increased its pound15m 28m donation to pound50m 94m making it the largest international contributor.

Watch/Listen:

31 December, 2004

Thai authorities warn that 6000 missing there are probably dead.
As Thai and foreign rescue teams continued the hunt for survivors Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said nearly all of the 6000 people still missing probably died in the disaster. With bodies becoming increasingly difficult to identify the Thai authorities asked foreign relatives not to travel to the affected region in the hopes of finding their loved ones saying it would now be better to rely on DNA testing.

Watch/Listen:

1 January, 2005

Monsoon rains add to Sri Lankan victims woes.
Severe weather in Sri Lanka disrupted efforts to help more than one million people affected by the tsunami. Flash floods prevented aid workers reaching some parts of the island and local health officials warned of a possible outbreak of disease in crowded refugee centres.

Watch/Listen:

2 January, 2005

UN warns death toll is likely to top 150000.
The UN's relief coordinator Jan Egeland said that it was likely that more than 150000 people lost their lives in the Indian Ocean tsunami but said that the full death toll would probably never be known. In Indonesia where whole communities were wiped out officials stopped counting the number of corpses found.

3 January, 2005

US presidents join together to make appeal to public.
President George W Bush and two of his predecessors Bill Clinton and George Bush Senior called on Americans to aid the Asian tsunami's victims. The three appeared together at the White House to issue a joint appeal to private citizens and businesses in the world's richest nation.

Watch/Listen:

4 January, 2005

Airport accident blocks Aceh aid effort.
The main airport in the Indonesian province of Aceh which was handling essential aid deliveries to tsunamistricken areas was closed after an accident involving a cargo plane. An incoming aid plane had hit a cow early on Tuesday forcing the closure of the runway for most of the day.

Watch/Listen:

5 January, 2005

Colin Powell visits Aceh province to assess the extent of aid needed.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Indonesia's Aceh province to see for himself the devastation caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami. Mr Powell said the devastation was unlike anything he had seen before. quotI have been in war and I have been through a number of hurricanes tornados and other relief operations but I have never seen anything like thisquot he said.

6 January, 2005

International aid conference held in Jakarta.
World leaders met in Indonesia to discuss how to get aid to the millions of people affected by the disaster. Promising to work together to rebuild shattered communities they agreed to build an early warning system in the Indian Ocean to guard against any future disasters.