"It was really shocking, very, very sad," said Achala Tejpaul aresident of Little India in Jackson, Heights, Queens. "After a nice holiday, you get up with news like that, it's really heartbreaking."

The magnitude 8.7 earthquake, the fourth strongest in the worldsince record-keeping began a century ago, was centered underwater near the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The resulting tsunamis, some 40 feet tall and moving hundreds of miles per hour, flooded coasts along the Indian Ocean without warning.

Deaths have been reported in nine different countries, as far west as Somalia, in Africa. Sri Lanka was the hardest hit, and India and Indonesia also suffered casualties in the thousands.

Many immigrants from those countries who live in New York have been unable to learn the fate of relatives, since the giant waves wiped out lines of communication in many areas.

In the growing Sri Lankan immigrant community of Staten Island,most people stayed home to monitor the news and to reach family back home, said a local restaurant owner.

Many of the victims were tourists vacationing at beach resorts.Secretary of State Colin Powell says at least eight Americans died.Powell said the United States is doing its best to provide aid to the countries affected and to locate missing Americans.

Although an international tsunami warning system exists, India and Sri Lanka are not part of the network, because tidal waves in the Indian Ocean are rare. Government officials in Asia say countless lives could have been saved if a broad public warning had been issued immediately following the quake.