Tsunami death toll climbs in coastal Kerala

The death toll from yesterday's tsunami in the coastal areas of Kerala has reached 156 as rescue operations continued in the worst affected districts of Kollam and Alappuzha until late yesterday evening.

Kollam district accounted for the highest toll of 122 followed by Alappuzha with 29 and Ernakulam with 4 in the massive sea wave invasion sparked by the quake off the Indonesian coast.

The rescue operations now going on are confined to retrieving dead bodies from collapsed houses and elsewhere. The toll keeps increasing with the recovery of fresh bodies and the final figure is anybody's guess.

The fate of a number of Keralites in the disaster-hit areas of Tamil Nadu, especially Vailankanni pilgrimage centre, is yet to be known. However, ten people who had been to Vailankanni from Thrissur district are reported to have perished in the giant wave.

About 800 people have been admitted to hospitals with injuries, as thousands became homeless and their boats and fishing gear washed away by the giant waves. The search teams comprising police, fire brigade, Navy and Coast Guard personnel resumed operations in the wave-ravaged fishing hamlets in the two districts.

Medical and paramedical personnel, aided by voluntary agencies, have also been active in the area. Over 40,000 people are living in relief camps after the state witnessed the most unexpected natural disaster.

The state Cabinet met yesterday morning and streamlined plans to cushion the impact of the tragedy. Ex-gratia payments were announced for the kin of the dead and the injured.

Reports from New Delhi said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi would visit Kerala to oversee relief operations. Singh is expected to reach the state capital this evening.

Sonia is currently in Andaman and Nicobar personally supervising rescue and relief operations in the islands where thousands have been killed by the tsunami.