Earthquake, Tsunami Slam Asia, Killing Thousands

Boats are slammed into shops on shore after the area was hit by tidal waves at Patong beach in Phuket, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 26, 2004. The most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed coastlines across Asia on Sunday, killing more than 500 people in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Thailand. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia is the largest in the world in 40 years. (AP Photo/Karim Khamzin)

Location of the Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake and aftershoocks.

Updated 8:48 p.m. ET

Helicopters dropped food, medicine, and generators as rescuers searched for survivors Monday from an undersea Asian earthquake of epic power that sent huge walls of water crashing down on beaches in eight countries, killing more than 11,600 people.

The death toll along the southern shores of Asia _ and as far west as Somalia on the African coast, where nine were reported killed _ was certain to increase, as authorities sorted out a far-flung disaster caused by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the world's strongest in 40 years.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each reported thousands dead, and Thailand, a Western tourist hotspot, said hundreds were dead and thousands missing. Malaysia, Maldives and Bangladesh also reported deaths.

The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m. (0058GMT) Sunday off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The tsunami came as much as 2 1-2 hours later, without warning, on a morning of crystal blue skies. Sunbathers and snorkelers, cars and cottages, fishing boats and even a lighthouse were swept away.

''It's an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions that the damage has been unprecedented,'' said Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, where the beaches turned into virtual open-air mortuaries.

''It all seems to have happened in the space of 20 minutes. A massive tidal wave of extreme ferocity ... smashed everything in sight to smithereens,'' she said.

Worst hit was Sri Lanka _ an island nation some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) west of the epicenter. The death toll stood at 4,500, according to police and Tamil Tiger rebels, and some 1 million people were displaced.

Sri Lanka's government declared a national disaster. So did the neighboring Maldives, a low-lying string of 1,192 coral atolls where 32 people were killed and communications and power were cut by the rushing waters.

The U.S. Geological Survey upgraded the quake throughout Sunday to a magnitude of 9.0 _ the strongest since a 9.2 magnitude temblor in Alaska in 1964, and the fourth-largest in a century. The quake was nearly 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep and was followed by a half-dozen powerful aftershocks.

Traveling at nearly jetliner speeds, the first huge waves began pummeling southern Thailand an hour after the quake. In 2 1/2 hours, the torrents had traveled some 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) and slammed India and Sri Lanka. They eventually struck Somalia.

Towns in Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra, the closest land to the earthquake's epicenter, were swamped by the waves. The Health Ministry said at least 4,448 people were killed in Indonesia, and hundreds more were missing. A reporter for The Associated Press saw several bodies wedged into trees in one village, apparently left there by receding waters.

More than a million people were reported homeless in Indonesia.

The quake occurred at a place where several huge geological plates push against each other with massive force. The survey said a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) section along the boundary of the plates shifted, motion that triggered the sudden displacement of a huge volume of water.

The reverberations sent waves as high as six meters (20 feet) thundering into eight countries and sweeping away tourists, fishermen, hotels, homes and cars.

In Thailand, where the tourist season is at its peak as Europeans seek to escape frigid winters on tropical beaches, a government disaster center said 289 people were killed and more than 3,600 injured.

The nationalities of the dead remained mostly unknown, but the United States said three Americans were killed. Denmark said two of its citizens perished, and New Zealand reported one national dead.

In India, the waves swept away boats, homes and vehicles killing nearly 2,300 people in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Pondicherry, officials said.

Sea water flooded the streets of Cuddalore town, flipping over dozens of cars and leaving some vehicles perched atop road dividers. At least 20,000 people were evacuated from the region, officials said.

In Malaysia, at least 42 people, including foreign tourists swimming or riding jetskis, were killed on the resort island of Penang, officials said. Two people were killed in Bangladesh.

From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II led appeals for aid for victims. Governments rushed to check whether their citizens were among the missing or dead.

''The Christmas holiday has been saddened by the news that comes from Southeast Asia about the powerful earthquake,'' the pontiff said during his customary Sunday address.

U.S. President George W. Bush expressed his condolences over the ''terrible loss of life and suffering'' caused by the quake and waves.

The 25-nation European Union promised to quickly deliver euro3 million (US$4 million) in emergency aid.

''For all the huge advances in the control of our lives through science and technology, an earthquake on this scale is truly humbling as well as profoundly tragic,'' British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.