The vast numbers of tsunami victims in the stricken countries around the Indian Ocean boggle the mind. More than 10 days after the disaster, exact figures are still unknown. According to the United Nations, the death toll has passed 150,000 and is expected to keep climbing. Thousands of other people, including hundreds of Japanese tourists, are missing.
The giant tsunamis, triggered by a monstrous quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, have cut a wide swath of destruction across southern Asia. Roads have been washed out and buildings reduced to rubble. Full-scale relief efforts, including the recovery of the dead, medical treatment of the wounded (estimated at 500,000) and the provision of clean water, are beginning to take off.
In terms of casualties, the catastrophe is said to be the worst in living memory -- worse than the earthquake that hit Tokyo and surrounding areas in 1923. Now there are fears of a "secondary disaster" -- the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera and malaria -- as sanitation deteriorates for lack of tap water.