Benn sees tsunami disaster zone

Towns were destroyed and tens of thousands of lives lost in Aceh

The international development secretary has compared the devastation wreaked by the Asian tsunami to that caused by a nuclear explosion.

Hilary Benn said the destruction had to be seen to be believed, after landing in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, along with a plane load of UK aid sent by the MoD.

"The only thing I have ever seen like it, and only in photographs, is Nagasaki and Hiroshima," Mr Benn said.

On Thursday Tony Blair said many of the UK's missing were likely to have died.

The scene in Banda Aceh underlined the scale of devastation and the enormity of the needs of people hit by the disaster, said Mr Benn.

It has also brought home how the relief effort has to go hand in hand with beginning a process of reconstruction Hilary Benn Police seek updated details Cautious giving urged

"It has also brought home how the relief effort has to go hand in hand with beginning a process of reconstruction."

The international community had to show the same sort of commitment it had shown in recent days for years ahead, Mr Benn added.

Mr Benn will later travel to the Indonesian capital Jakarta, then to Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people died.

The government has so far allocated £50m in aid to the affected countries, but has promised to match the amount raised by the public.

Tony Blair has predicted the government would eventually give "hundreds of millions" of pounds in aid.

UK TSUNAMI VICTIMS Current confirmed dead: 42 Missing: around 159 Youngest known victim: Two months old Calls to Foreign Office emergency line: 135,000 British victims of tsunami

At his monthly news conference on Thursday the prime minister said a "massive effort" had so far been put in by British officials and police officers.

He also praised the public's response as "remarkable".

Mr Blair said the Foreign Office had set up temporary offices in all affected areas and everything possible was being done to help with the identification of British victims and the repatriation of remains.

He confirmed consular staff had asked authorities across Asia to ensure no British victims were included in mass burials, and that the government would pay for the repatriation of all the bodies.

Hopes were likely to be fading for those waiting for news about those Britons still missing, he said.

Lottery money

Much-needed assistance had already been delivered to the region with the UK meeting every request from the UN, aid agencies and individual countries, Mr Blair added.

Help included two RAF C-17 planes, aid flights, three Navy ships, and three chartered Mi8 helicopters being used by the UN in Aceh.

The Department for International Development (DFID) is sending an aid flight on Thursday from East Midlands Airport to Banda Aceh.

The chartered plane will be carrying a mobile humanitarian unit, housed in a Land Rover and trailer, which holds computers, maps and information resources.

Also on board are one million water purification tablets and tents to provide temporary shelter for at least 1,000 people.

The British frigate HMS Chatham has joined the relief effort in Sri Lanka, with Navy crew helping to clear debris from school playgrounds in one town, and repairing a damaged causeway.

Twenty islands in the Maldives are described as totally destroyed

An Oxfam-commissioned flight carrying enough water and water purifiers for 2,000 families for two weeks to the Maldives is due to leave the UK later on Thursday.

At least 82 people died after the tidal wave hit and more than 12,000 have been displaced there.

An international conference opened in the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday to discuss how to co-ordinate the relief and reconstruction effort across the region.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the international community had to match, and maintain, its response to the magnitude of the disaster.

"The easy part is to get the cheques with the headline figure. The much more difficult part is to ensure that money pledged is paid and then spent wisely in a co-ordinated way," he said.

Pledges to the relief effort have so far topped £1.65bn ($3bn) worldwide.

In Britain, more than £76m has been promised to the umbrella group of charities, the Disaster Emergency Committee, which is co-ordinating relief efforts.

On Thursday Lottery chiefs said its charitable fund would donate £12m to pay for a three-year programme of rebuilding shattered communities.