With the death toll constantly rising as dawn revealed the full scale of the catastrophe, governments pledged millions in aid and despatched naval ships, military aircraft and soldiers on rescue and relief operations.

The United Nations rushed disaster teams to the region, saying hundreds of thousands of people in coastal areas remained at risk, with livelihoods from fishing and farming wiped out and disease threatening to wreak more havoc.

The main quake, the fourth largest recorded since 1900 and measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Sunday after a rupture on the seabed caused by the violent grinding of two tectonic plates.

The collision displaced the seafloor by 10 metres vertically, unleashing tsunamis travelling at high speeds across thousands of kilometres of ocean.

Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia were the worst hit nations, but the tidal waves also claimed lives on the distant shores of east Africa, some 7,000 kilometres (4,000 miles) away.

Terrifying walls of water up to 10 metres (33 feet) high were reported in Asia, roaring ashore with bewildering speed, sweeping people off beaches, flattening hotels and homes, uprooting trees and overturning cars.

The victims ranged from wealthy western tourists taking a Christmas break on tropical islands to the poor eking out a living in coastal villages.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the stricken countries needed portable sanitation facilities, medical supplies, tents and helicopters to evacuate people.

"The power of this earthquake, and its huge geographical reach, are just staggering," said UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) executive director Carol Bellamy.

"Hundreds of thousands of children in coastal communities in six countries may be in serious jeopardy," she said.

Indonesia and Sri Lanka were both mourning death tolls between 4,400 and 4,800 respectively. Over 4,200 died in southern India, some 400 in Thailand, 44 in Malaysia and 32 in the Maldives.

Many are still missing throughout the region.

At first light Monday, hundreds of awestruck residents of Indonesia's Aceh province near the epicentre of the quake, were still trying to comprehend the tidal waves that engulfed their villages, carrying away homes and relatives.

"People told me it was as if God had unleashed his anger on the people," said Haji Ali, a resident in Patong Labu, a small settlement close to the north Aceh town of Bireuen.

Along Aceh's coastline, flimsy wooden houses lay crushed and tossed aside while vehicles were scattered in rivers and ravines. Frightened farm animals wandered the quake-buckled roads, untethered in the chaos.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared three days of national mourning and was expected to arrive in Aceh later Monday to inspect the damage and survey relief efforts.

In Thailand, an estimated one-third of the dead were foreign tourists. Survivors told harrowing stories of seeing loved ones washed away in front of their eyes.

The nation's top beach attractions were among the worst-hit as monster waves swept scores of people out to sea, drowned snorkellers, sank boats and shattered buildings along the coast.

The popular resort of Phuket and the idyllic island of Phi Phi were devastated by the huge waters.

At Phuket's main beach of Patong, local volunteers manned barricades to stem looting along streets strewn with upturned cars, tangled power lines and debris sucked out of shattered shops and hotels.

At Phuket International Hospital patients like 44-year-old Swedish tourist Gerdh Vall received treatment as they tearfully awaited news of missing relatives and friends.

"My husband and 14-year-old daughter are missing since we were swept off the second floor of our hotel on Phi Phi island," she said, clutching the arm of her teenage son Johannes.

At the small Tatong hospital in Phuket, health workers struggled to run a makeshift morgue in the car park. More than 30 bodies, ranging from small children to the elderly, lay on the ground.

About one third were tourists, almost all still in their swimwear.

Dozens of stunned townspeople and tourists as well as the walking wounded wandered among the swollen bodies, seeking a familiar face.

"We have had 68 bodies here since this began this morning but now even more are coming" said a nurse in charge of documenting the bodies as another ten corpses arrived in the back of pickup trucks and ambulances.

In India, authorities in coastal areas expected the death toll to rise further because a large number of fishermen were at sea when the towering tsunami hit and were still missing.

Morning joggers, children playing on the coast and fishermen preparing to venture out in their boats were caught unawares as the waves swept them into the sea.

The popular tourist state of Kerala, where thousands of visitors flock from overseas, was in shock after at least 123 people died and some 43,000 were left homeless.

Much of the early international aid was focused on Sri Lanka, which declared a state of emergency.

Governments from France to Australia and Russia to the United States pledged aid and assistance, despatched aircraft, doctors and specialists to the worst-hit areas.

"For all the huge advances in the control of our lives through science and technology an earthquake on this scale is truly humbling as well as profoundly tragic for everyone involved," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.

In Geneva, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed for 7.5 million Swiss francs (4.8 million euros, 6.6 million dollars) to help an estimated 500,000 survivors.

In Malaysia, 44 people, including many elderly and children, were drowned and many others were missing after tidal waves hit the resort islands of Penang and Langkawi and the northwestern coast.

On the Indian Ocean tourist paradise of the Maldives, a British tourist and 31 other people died after tidal waves lashed the archipelago, officials said.

Three US citizens and a New Zealand woman were confirmed among the dead across the region. Australia said six of its nationals were missing.

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