Tsunami: Three months on

AT 0758 local time on December 26 last year, exactly three months ago, the Earth's crust deep under the sea off the west coast of Indonesia's Aceh province shifted violently, lifting the seabed by some 15 metres.

The seismic thrust, the world's biggest in 40 years measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, sent shockwaves through the Indian Ocean, unleashing tsunamis speeding at up to 700 kilometres per hour in every direction. Wherever they hit they wrought devastation as never before. It was the worst natural calamity in living memory.

The death toll: The number of people believed to have perished in the disaster stands at more than 273,000. Indonesia was the worst hit country, with 126,715 dead and 93,480 listed as missing.

Sri Lanka lists 30,957 as dead, with 5,637 missing. India, Thailand, Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Somalia, Tanzania, Kenya were among the other affected countries.

The homeless: In Sri Lanka alone, up to one million people were displaced. Around 500,000 people remain in camps or temporary shelter. There have been no major outbreaks of disease.

Relief: An unlikely coalition of more than 25 nations banded together to help stricken tsunami victims, with troops and military hardware being deployed by countries including the United States, France, Pakistan, Japan, China, Jordan, India, Brunei, Britain and Russia.

Most troops have now withdrawn. Many high profile figures also toured the tsunami-hit region.

Donations, pledges: Countries around the world pledged up to 10 billion dollars in aid.

The UN says some 90 per cent of its 977 million dollar flash appeal to cover the first six months of relief for the disaster has been covered.

It is unclear how much money will eventually reach areas in need of reconstruction and rehabilitation. Officials in Colombo say that of more than 884 million dollars in pledges to Sri Lanka, it had received US$ 95.5 million.

Economic cost: Despite the massive death toll, the economic cost of the disaster will be relatively light since major industrial zones were not touched by the disaster.

Sri Lanka has said reconstruction work and foreign aid will more than offset the economic losses and revised its economic growth forecasts for 2005 upwards to around 5.5 percent.

Khalid