JAKARTA, Jan 13 (AFP) - More than two weeks after the
tsunamis ravaged coastal areas around the Indian Ocean
killing at least 163,000 people and causing widespread
destruction, the international community continued
mobilising relief aid efforts.
The December 26 quake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra
measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, the biggest tremor
recorded anywhere in the world in four decades.
-- DEC 26 --
0058 GMT: A quake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale hits
the Indian Ocean, 250 kilometres (150 miles) northwest of
Indonesia`s island of Sumatra.
Thirty minutes later 10-meter (30 feet) high waves that
wipe dozens of villages off the map in Sumatra`s troubled
Aceh province, which has already devastated by decades of
separatist conflict.
Tsunamis travel across the Indian Ocean, striking
Thailand, Sri Lanka, India -- notably the Andaman and
Nicobar islands -- Burma, Malaysia, the Maldives,
Bangladesh, Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania.
-- DEC 27 --
The United Nations says the cost of damage from the
disaster will run to billions of dollars and require the
biggest humanitarian aid operation in the nearly 60-year
history of the UN.
-- DEC 28 --
Mass burials are carried out throughout the affected
region out of fear of the spread of disease.
The death toll rises to 55,000, rescue services struggle
to get organised.
-- DEC 29 --
The World Health Organisation warns there could be as
many deaths due to disease spreading as a result of the
catastrophe as caused by the tsunamis.
The death toll rises to 80,000.
-- DEC 30 --
Four days after the catastrophe, worldwide aid reaches
250 million euros (340 million dollars) and continues to
mount.
The death toll reaches nearly 120,000 including at least
79,940 people in Indonesia, close to 25,000 in Sri Lanka,
11,330 in India and some 2,400 in Thailand.
The World Health Organisation says as many as five
million have been made homeless.
-- DEC 31 --
The death toll passes the 125,000 mark, as Indonesia says
it has given up trying to keep an exact count.
Two international conferences are planned in coordinate
aid: an ASEAN summit with other international leaders in
Jakarta on January 6, and a conference of donor countries in
Geneva on January 11.
-- JAN 1 --
International aid pledges rise to two billion dollars,
including 500 million dollars pledged by Japan.
UN officials estimate the death toll at 150,000, but warn
the true figure may never be known. UN officials say
logistical bottlenecks and ruined roads and bridges are
hampering the relief effort.
-- JAN 2 --
The United Nations warns it will take weeks for aid to
reach many survivors, as floods slow aid operations in Sri
Lanka.
-- JAN 3 --
US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Thailand at
the start of an Asian tour to assess recovery needs in
tsunami-hit regions.
The United Nations says it has received record donations
of 1.5 billion dollars in one week, as the latest figures
say at least 145,00 people were killed and millions left
homeless.
-- JAN 4 --
Britain unveils a proposal to partners in the Group of
Eight most industrialised nations for an moratorium on debt
repayments from Indian Ocean countries hit by the tsunami.
The World Health Organisation puts at 500,000 the number
of people believed to have been injured and warns of a
"health disaster" if access to drinking water is not resumed
soon.
-- JAN 5 --
The confirmed death toll passes 146,000, with thousands
still missing.
Pledges of aid continue to arrive. Australia announces a
764-million dollar package to Indonesia on the eve of the
Jakarta summit to discuss how nations can recover from the
catastrophe.
Germany becomes the biggest European donor as Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder announces his country is raising its aid
to 500 million euros.
-- JAN 6 --
Attending the emergency Jakarta summit grouping leaders
from 26 nations and international organisations, UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan appeals for almost one billion
dollars in cash to tackle the immediate aftermath of the
disaster.
Asian leaders at the summit endorse a regional project to
set up a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean.
The EU unveils proposals for a further 450-million-euro
package of relief while the Saudi-based Islamic Development
Bank pledges 500 million dollars.
-- JAN 7 --
Indonesia raises its death toll to just over 101,000,
giving a total in the Indian Ocean region of around 153,000,
although the UN warns tens of thousands more may be dead and
unaccounted for.
In Sri Lanka, 30,615 are confirmed killed. The toll in
India is 9,995 and in Thailand 5,291 -- half of them foreign
holidaymakers.
-- JAN 8 --
Thousands more tsunami deaths recorded on the tip of
Sumatra brought the death toll to just over 156,000.
The World Bank says Sri Lanka will be the country paying
the highest economic price for the catastrophe.
Japan confirms it will deploy 1,000 military personnel in
Indonesia for relief work, making this by far the biggest
Japanese military deployment abroad since World War II.
-- JAN 9 --
Aid groups says some survivors in isolated areas may not
have received help despite an unprecedented emergency
operation.
France says the Paris Club of government lenders are in
agreement on granting a moratorium on debt repayments to
countries hit by the tsunami.
-- JAN 10 --
UN chief Kofi Annan urges the international community to
help the affected nations improve on basic infrastructure
and not merely rebuild what had been lost.
US marines land on the beach at Meulaboh bringing 50
tonnes of food and aid to the isolated town in Indonesia`s
Aceh region that lost more than 28,000 people in the
tsunami.
-- JAN 11 --
UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland tells an
international conference in Geneva that donor nations must
speed up delivery of aid pledges for the relief effort,
adding that they would face public shame if they failed to
live up to their promises.
The United Nations says it would use an independent firm
of auditors to help ensure that aid money promised for the
disaster relief effort finds its way to those in need.
The Indonesian military says restrictions on foreign aid
workers in tsunami-hit Aceh were needed to curtail a growing
threat from separatist rebels.
-- JAN 12 --
The Paris Club of creditor nations offers an
unconditional freeze on debt repayments for Indonesia, the
Seychelles and Sri Lanka to help them recover.
Indonesia asserts its military control over tsunami-levelled
Aceh province, requiring foreigners to register and seek
official escorts to avoid what it says is a danger of rebel
attacks.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organiation,
UNESCO, says a tsunami early warning system for the Indian
Ocean is expected to be up and running by June 2006 and a
global system to be in place a year later.
-- JAN 13 --
Rebels in Indonesia`s Aceh province called for ceasefire
talks to help the relief aid effort.
The United Nations appealed to Indonesia not to impose a
deadline on foreign troops.
The Asian Development Bank said the tsunamis will likely
throw nearly two million more people into poverty in Asia.