Dec 28 (DT) A Pakistan Army plane carrying relief goods left for Sri Lanka on Monday where almost 11,000 people were killed by massive tidal waves and thousands left homeless, officials said. The plane was loaded with tents, medicines, drinking water and food items including rice, pulses and edible oil. more..

Dec 28 (NT) Dazed survivors struggled to comprehend their tragedy and bury their dead yesterday amid the overpowering stench of death in the southern tourist town of Galle. The disaster killed at least 11,500 according to official Sri Lankan estimates – about half of the toll throughout the Indian Ocean. more..

Dec 28 (Xinhua) Shouting names of the missing relatives, looking around to identify the loved ones and moving bodies for burials -- all are the scene in a Sri Lankan coastal town a day after the sudden tsunamis. more..

Dec 28 (AT) The first plane carrying aid from Britain to Sri Lanka is due in Colombo today.It was scheduled to leave Gatwick Airport last night. Hilary Benn, Secretary (Minister) for International Development, said yesterday that goods needed to help the set up of temporary accommodation for Sri Lanka's displaced, including tents, sheeting and blankets were on the way to Colombo. more..

Dec 28 (AT) The death toll in Sri Lanka’s Tsunami disaster has officially topped ten thousand and is nearing 11 thousand. However some estimates held that 20,000 have died in Sri Lanka, even though government figures now put the figure at 14,.000. more..

Dec 28 (AT) There are no Tsunami warning systems in the Indian ocean in contrast the Pacific, says Mariadas Perera, a Seismologist in Colombo. This he says is due to the fact that the Pacific somehow is more Tsunamii prone -- and since Tsunamis occur only every 150 years apart on the average in the Indian ocean, more..

Dec 28 (AT) Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna, has extended an appeal join national programme to bring normality to the people devastated by the tsunami. JVP the junior partner of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance Government in a press release said: more..

Dec 28 (AT) Relief supplies are continuing come in from several neighbouring countries and from Europe. The Government has made all arrangements at the International Airport in Katunayake and the sea ports of Colombo, Galle and Trincomalee to receive the medical personnel more..

Dec 28 (AT) The death toll keeps on rising as flood waters recede, exposing more bodies. At the time of writing the number of bodies recovered so far is 10,850. The highest figure - 5700 is reported from the Ampara District. Nearly 3000 are dead in Jaffna and 1000 in Trincomalee. Batticaloa recorded 800 deaths. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) The Boxing Day tsunami strike on the Sri Lankan coastline is expected to wipe off the bottomlines of local insurance companies, with the industry waiting for clarifications from international re-insurers before settling claims. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) Converting hotel halls and clubs into makeshift shelters, the Tourism Ministry has got together some 200 beds in city hotels to house tourists stranded after the weekend disaster. more..

Dec 28 (Reuters) Thousands of frantic Sri Lankans are searching corpse-strewn rubble for relatives along the Indian Ocean island's devastated coastline as the nation's death toll from a deadly tsunami rises above 12,200. more..

Dec 28 (UN) Landmines left from years of civil war will likely endanger survivors and rescuers after a devastating tsunami hit Sri Lanka and other Asian states, UNICEF said. "Mines were floated by the floods and washed out of known mine fields, so now we don't know where they are, and the warning signs on mined areas have been swept away or destroyed," more..

Dec 28 (BN) IN NORMAL times, the Indian Ocean surf off the coast of Sri Lanka is hypnotic, like a lullaby. Along Colombo's Galle Face Green, young lovers huddle under black umbrellas, shielding themselves from the sun and wind and strangers' stares. more..

Dec 28 (AP) This tropical island nation that has long been an ethnic cauldron of disagreement and violence remains one today, even in the face of a national tragedy that's seen 12,500 people perish in monster tidal waves. more..

Dec 28 (SLA) Teams conducting immediate relief operations in Tsunami tidal wave affected areas urgently require following medical items. Sri Lanka Army kindly requests all donors to contribute to this national effort by handing over the following items to “Trivida Hamuda Sahana Yathra” (Tri Service Disaster Relief Centre) more..

Dec 28 (SAMN) The Yala National Park was indefinitely closed after around 250 holiday makers and other visitors fell victim to Sunday's tsunami which struck the coastal areas. Prior to the incident around 250 vehicles had entered the National Park. However, only around 30 vehicles had left the Park by Sunday. more..

Dec 28 (AFP) Sri Lankan spinning great Muttiah Muralitharan declared himself "lucky to be alive" after narrowly missing one of the tsunamis that killed 11,000 people in his home country, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. more..

Dec 28 (AFP) Mass funerals were underway in Sri Lanka as the death toll from the tidal wave disaster neared 12,000 with decomposed bodies pulled from washed out trains, cars and devastated buildings, officials said. more..

Dec 28 (Yahoo) Dec 28 (Yahoo) A young tsunami victim's father cries as he holds the body of his son along with other family members at the Galle Hospital in Galle, Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 28 (HT) The LTTE are complaining that the tsunami disaster relief being organised by the Sri Lankan government is not reaching the Tamil-speaking North and East of the island, where an estimated 8,000 people have perished. more..

Dec 28 (AFP) Sri Lanka is banking on 2,000 Indian medical workers and planeloads of other foreign relief to help it stave off disease from thousands of decomposing bodies in the wake of a devastating tsunami. more..

Dec 28 (PIS) Thousands have been rendered homeless, many are distraught at having lost family members, mostly children and their homes in the tsunami disaster. They are now left with only the clothes they were wearing at the time of the disaster and are urgently in need of cooked food, clothes and medicine, relief workers say. more..

Dec 28 (IANS) Shouting names of missing relatives, looking around to identify the loved ones and moving bodies for burials - all these are scenes in this Sri Lankan coastal town two days after tsunamis hit the area, reports Xinhua. more..

Dec 28 (IANS) About 8,000 people have died and half a million displaced in Sri Lanka's northeast following the deadly tsunami, Tamil Tiger guerrillas said Tuesday. A website run by the LTTE said the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), a rebel front, was engaged on a "war footing" rendering humanitarian assistance in the coastal areas. more..

Dec 28 (Reuters) Indian Ocean nations from Indonesia to Sri Lanka struggled on Tuesday to find and bury their dead and help the survivors of a tsunami as fears grew the final toll would far exceed the 26,000 people reported killed. more..

Dec 28 (Xinhua) President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who returned home last night, has declared a week-long period of mourning after the huge disaster in Sri Lanka, official sources said Tuesday. more..

Dec 28 (AP) Sri Lankan officials are battling shock and logistical problems as they try to distribute food and medicine to areas hardest hit by the weekend's massive tsunamis, the nation's foreign minister said Tuesday. more..

Dec 28 (AP) Families of the dead used cooking utensils and even their bare hands to dig graves in the aftermath of a huge tidal wave in Sri Lanka, as rescuers searching through the debris uncovered another 2,480 bodies Tuesday, bringing the toll in this tropical island to 15,000. more..

Dec 28 (BBC) The manager of the Sri Lanka cricket team has revealed they are reluctant to continue the tour to New Zealand after the tsunami tragedy in south Asia. Wednesday's one-day international in Napier has been postponed but the series is set to resume on 2 January. more..

Dec 28 (TN) Five villages Devastated by Saturday's Tsunami are marooned as causeways and bridges have been damaged by the tidal waves. "The newly built government hospital, public buildings, schools, LTTE political offices, homes, churches and temples have been completely destroyed by the sea," more..

Dec 28 (TN) More than 54,000 families have been displaced in the Batticaloa-Amparai districts due to the tidal wave that struck the North-East coast two days ago. Information is meagre with little improvement in the telephone service. The death toll is reported to be around six thousand are reported missing. more..

Dec 28 (TN) Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) has released a list of immediate requirements in an urgent appeal to the International Community. The full extent of the tragedy is still being counted and there is widespread view that the initial impact is only the beginning of a major tragedy to unfold in the near future more..

Dec 28 (TN) One of the units of the Disaster Management Taskforce setup by the Head of the Political Wing of the LTTE, S.P.Thamilchelvan, met Tuesaday at 9.15am at its new offices in Puthukkadu juncion on A9 near Thalaiyady, Vadamaradchy East, Sudar, an official with the LTTE Peace Secretariat told TamilNet. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) The Banking sector is mooting plans for a fund to meet immediate rebuilding needs in the hotel sector in the tidal wave affected south and east of Sri Lanka. Assistance schemes for the fishing and agriculture sectors severely affected by Sunday’s tsunami are also being considered. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) The Colombo Exchange went into the red as investors sank their hotel sector stocks Tuesday, the first day of trading since Sunday’s tsunami that wiped off most the Sri Lanka’s east and south coast. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) The Boxing Day tsunami strike on the Sri Lankan coastline is expected to wipe off the bottomlines of local insurance companies, with the industry waiting for clarifications from international re-insurers before settling claims. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) The Colombo bourse sank nearly 70 points on Tuesday, dragged down by tourism and leisure stocks as the tsunami wave swept through the coastal belt snatching over 12,500 lives and displacing millions of people. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) Relief organizations working in Sri Lanka are appealing for volunteer medical practitioners to go into tsunami struck areas as the risk of disease mounts. Sarvodaya, one of Sri Lanka's most active charities say they need medical practitioners who can stay at least two days out of Colombo. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) Sunday’s tsunami puts one of Sri Lanka’s main fuel storage centres out of business, starving the Southern region of fuel. “The Galle depot is not operational. We don’t know the extent of damage yet. A team of our engineers went to Galle today(Tuesday) to assess the damage,” said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation(CPC). more..

Dec 28 (LBO) Wildlife officers found a 13-year-old boy Tuesday morning, the only survivor of the deadly tsunami hit Yala National Park. According to park officials deadly tsunamis leapt 2 km inside the park ripping out everything in its way. more..

Dec 28 (LBO) The World Food Programme (WFP) stepped in on Monday to feed 400,000 people displaced by tidal waves in Sri Lanka. “The WFP is to provide nearly 4,000 metric tons of rice, wheat, lentils, and sugar valued at US $ 1.2 mn,” said a press release from the United Nations (UN) on Monday. more..

Dec 28 (AT) As mass cremations and burials are being organized, the number of deaths has begun to vary between 13,000 and 20,000. The government has allocated Rs. 10,000 for the funeral of each identified victim, while those still unidentified are being photographed before burial for future identification. more..

Dec 28 (AT) Velupillai Prabhakaran, “the sole representative of the Tamils”, has not been seen or heard by the Tamil people since the tsunami hit the north and the east last Saturday. S. Thamilselvam and Col. Soosai have made statements but the silence of their leader has raised some questions in Tamil and political circles. more..

Dec 28 (AFP) Thirty six stranded British tourists were rescued in Sri Lanka thanks to a mobile phone with one of them and technology that could pin-point the user, an official involved in the rescue told AFP. more..

Dec 28 (AFP) The International Cricket Council (ICC) insisted they were not insensitive to the concerns of disaster-stricken Sri Lanka following reports the team were only going ahead with their tour of New Zealand because they feared cancellation would lead to a massive fine from the world governing body. more..

Dec 28 (CNN) People here seem bewildered by the enormity of what has happened to their country. Sri Lankan military officials say more than 18,000 people died on the island nation. Everywhere you go small crowds are huddled around radios and television sets silently absorbing the news, blank faced, as if unable to comprehend what they are seeing and hearing. more..

Dec 28 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's government said on Tuesday authorities had recovered 12,895 bodies so far following passage of a devastating tsunami, and feared the final death toll would reach 25,000. "Dead bodies are washing ashore along the coast," more..

Dec 28 (AFP) Mass funerals of thousands of tsunami victims got underway in Sri Lanka as volunteers pulled more decomposed corpses from washed out trains, cars and smashed buildings. more..

Dec 28 (AP) Up to 1,000 passengers are dead or missing from a train that was flung off its tracks by this week's massive tsunami, police said, as workers on Tuesday cremated or buried bodies from the twisted wreckage. more..