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* Death toll from tsunami in Asia more than 24,000
* 11,000 people killed in Sri Lanka; 800,000 affected
* Indian death toll put at 7,000 people
* Indonesia reports 5,000 dead
* A wall of water up to 10 metres (30 ft) high triggered by the earthquake swept into Indonesia and across the ocean to Sri Lanka, India and southern Thailand
* Rescuers tend to survivors, begin grim task of burying the thousands of dead
* US scientists measure earthquake at magnitude 9.0, making it the largest in 40 years and the fourth-largest since 1900
* US officials say they tried frantically to warn that a deadly wall of water was surging across the Indian Ocean.
* United Nations warns of epidemics within days unless health systems in Asia can cope with the destruction.
* Red Cross appeals for $6.5 million emergency aid
QUOTES: Satya Kumari, a construction worker in Pondicherry, India: "Death came from the sea ... The waves just kept chasing us. It swept away all our huts. What did we do to deserve this?"
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland: "This may be the worst natural disaster in recent history because it is affecting so many heavily populated coastal areas ... so many vulnerable communities,"
Indian vegetable hawker N. Arasu: "We are too scared to sleep. What if the sea rises again and takes us away in our sleep?" Indian woman Anjalakshi, whose husband, son and wife are missing: "I have nowhere to go. Why did I survive this? ... My house is full of water and there is no one to help me."
American tourist Moira Lee, 28: "Our paradise turned into hell ... We saw a massive wave coming toward us and our waitress freaked out. She told us to run for our lives. So we just turned and ran for about a mile up the hill."
William Robins, 26, from California was on Phi Phi resort island, Thailand: "We saw a whole bunch of people screaming and jumping off boats. We thought it was a terrorist bomb, so we jumped over a hotel fence and hid in a storage room."
Sri Lankan hospital official: "We have got hundreds of dead that we have dealt with ... "I don't know what to do." Marine colonel Buyung Lelana, Indonesia: "It smells so bad, fishy. The human bodies are mixed in with dead animals like dogs, fish, cats and goats."
Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga: "We are not well equipped to deal with a disaster of this magnitude because we have never known a disaster like this." -Reuters
