Dutch Tsunami aid stuck at India-Pakistan border
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk Report

AMRITSAR (India): Ten trucks full of aid material from the Netherlands destined for India's tsunami victims have been stopped by Indian officials at the border with Pakistan due to inadequate paperwork, they said Sunday.

"The trucks cannot be released as they are not carrying exemption papers," customs commissioner Dharam Pal Singh said. "They do not even have any documents to show that this is a government-to-government effort."

Singh said only the finance ministry could clear the goods and that the concerned authorities had been informed.

The Stuff

The trucks are carrying medicines, soaps, clothes, tents, milk powder, tooth pastes and water purification equipment collected by school children, said Nicolien De Kron, a school girl, who is part of the delegation accompanying the vehicles.

She said the material was meant for Tsunami survivors in southern India's Tamil Nadu state where at least 10,000 people died when the killer waves struck last December.

The group began its journey on January-14 and reached India after travelling 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) and crossing Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, De Kron said.

"In all the other countries, no one stopped us. It is only here [in India] that we are facing this problem," De Kron said.

"Before starting off, we involved nearly 20,000 children to collect the relief material from various parts of Holland," she said.

Death toll in Asian Tsunami disaster turns close to Point 3Mln

JAKARTA (Indonesia): The number of people believed killed in December's tsunami disaster rose to more than 294,000 Sunday, six weeks after the catastrophe, as Indonesia again increased its number of dead.

Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and Tsunamis, with a total 240,774 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said.

The ministry said the number of people confirmed dead had risen to 113,000 while the number of people missing and almost certainly dead remained at 127,774.

Thailand's Toll

Thailand's toll remained at 5,393 confirmed dead. A further 3,071 people were listed as missing, more than 1,000 of them foreigners.

Sri Lanka

The toll in Sri Lanka, which was second hardest hit by the catastrophe, stood at 30,957, according to the Centre for National Operations.

The number of people listed as missing was 5,637, but many were expected to be among those never formally identified, hurriedly buried and included in the confirmed death toll.

India

In neighbouring India, the official death toll was 10,749 with 5,640 still reported missing and feared dead.

The government was soon expected to draw up final casualty figures in which the missing were declared dead.

Myanmar

Myanmar has said 61 people were killed in the Tsunamis, against a United Nations estimate of 90 dead.

Maldives

At least 82 people were killed and another 26 were missing in the Maldives.

Sixty-eight people were dead in Malaysia, most of them in Penang, according to police, while Bangladesh reported two deaths.

Africa

On the east coast of Africa, 298 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya. Relief workers have said they believe the figure for Somali fatalities to be exaggerated.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, making it the largest quake worldwide in four decades.

Overall Death Toll:

Indonesia: 240,774
Sri Lanka: 30,957
India: 16,389
Thailand: 5,393
Maldives: 82
Malaysia: 68
Myanmar: 61
Bangladesh: 2

Somalia: 298
Tanzania: 10
Kenya: 1

Total: 294,035

The figures include 127,774 listed as missing in Indonesia and 5,640 in India.

In addition, 3,071 people are listed as missing in Thailand and 5,637 in Sri Lanka but not included in the toll because of possible double counting.●