UK support reaches Asian region

Politicians praised Britons for their donations to tsunami relief funds

UK aid efforts for victims of the Asian tsunami are continuing to gather pace around the devastated region.

Up to £60m has been donated by the public so far to the umbrella group of charities, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

The government has also pledged £50m to the relief effort.

The move comes after Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced that 199 Britons are now thought to have died in the disaster region.

Isolated areas

Around 1.8m people need food aid, and an estimated five million have been made homeless.

But aid has slowly started to reach some of the most isolated areas despite difficulties caused by the destruction of roads, ports and airfields following the disaster.

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) flew out 40 tonnes of water and jerry cans, donated by Scottish Water and Strathmore Water, from Glasgow Prestwick Airport to the Maldives on Monday evening.

Earlier, an RAF aid plane delivered delivering 50 tonnes of supplies to Indonesia, the country worst hit by the Asian tsunami.

We are beginning to recognise clearly where the problem areas are and who needs what Dominic Nutt, Christian Aid How your money helps Services held for victims

The C-17 plane was due to make two deliveries of British and Scandinavian equipment for the United Nations relief effort in the devastated Aceh province.

An RAF Tristar is also helping airlift supplies including one million water purification tablets, 20,000 tarpaulins and 14,000 collapsible jerry cans.

The RAF flights are part of a joint operation between DFID and Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

'Hugely frustrating

A Save the Children charter flight from Stansted Airport arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, at 0645 local time (0045 GMT) on Monday with supplies for 37,000 families.

The cargo included tablets to purify three million litres (659,921 gallons) of water, ID wrist bracelets, tarpaulins and megaphones to help reunite separated families.

Dominic Nutt, of Christian Aid, said: "We are beginning to recognise clearly where the problem areas are and who needs what."

But Oxfam organiser Mona Laczo, in Indonesia, said the charity had experienced "hugely frustrating" difficulties in delivering aid.

She said an aircraft carrying 20 tonnes of water equipment for 60,000 people had been stuck in a "plane traffic jam" since arriving in Medan in neighbouring North Sumatra on Saturday, and that the supplies might need to be taken on to Banda Aceh by road.

The government has sent two ships - the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Diligence and frigate HMS Chatham - to the disaster area.

It has also announced that a second Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, the Bayleaf, is being sent.

A Red Cross telephone helpline, funded by the Foreign Office, has been set up to offer counselling to people directly affected by the disaster.

People can call the Red Cross helpline on 0845 054 74 74 between 0900 GMT and 2100 GMT every day.