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Chinese kung fu film star Jet Li, who was in
the Maldives on
holiday,called his Hong Kong agent to report he and his family are safe.
Massive rescue operations were
scrambled along Asia's devastated coastlines as the death toll from a
powerful earthquake (9.0) and the giant tsunamis it unleashed
rose to almost 23,000 and hopes faded for many
thousands more still missing.
Horrific scenes of destruction met emergency teams
as bodies piled up by the hour from Sri Lanka to India, Indonesia to
Thailand, while international aid agencies rushed food and clothing to
hundreds of thousands left homeless. Hundreds of rescue ships, helicopters
and planes were mobilised to evacuate tourists from wrecked resorts and
airlift
stricken victims to hospitals already overflowing with the wounded and
corpses.
The trail of devastation came after an earthquake erupted off Indonesia
on Sunday, razing buildings in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh and
triggering giant tidal waves which battered the coasts of Sri Lanka,
India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia.
Along with such disastrous news, Jet Li is reported missing in the
Maldives, visiting a movie producer at the time. Due to the chaos caused
by the earthquake and tsunami, information is limited.
The death toll in the massive tsunamis triggered by a powerful
earthquake in South and Southeast Asia on Sunday has reached 22,477.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-12-29 14:58
