Country Deaths

Sri Labka 18,700

India 7,500

Indonesia 27,174

Thailand 1,516

Malaysia 63

Myanmar 90

Maldives 52

The numbers are based on local official and media reports as of 18400 GMT Tuesday and they are subject to updating. Enditem

China's first batch aid cargoes to fly to South Asia

BEIJING, Dec. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- China's first-aid cargoes are to be shipped to South and Southeast Asia early Wednesday morning, where the earthquake hit many countries.

The Boeing 747 aircraft, carrying 100 tons of relief materials,will fly from Beijing to Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka, according to China Southern which operated the flight.

China will provide first aid materials to five effected nationsin South and Southeast nations, including tents, blankets, sheets and food. Enditem

Roundup: Death toll in Asia quake-tsunamis over 55,000

JAKARTA, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) - On the third day since the powerful earthquake-tsunamis that struck some South and Southeast Asian countries, latest reports from the affected nations put the death toll to more than 55,000 in the region.

The death toll from Sunday's powerful earthquake and tsunamis has reached 27,174 in Indonesia, the health ministry said late Tuesday.

In a statement, the ministry said that the toll had jumped to at least 27,174 as the dead were counted in Banda Aceh and the western areas of Meulaboh and Aceh Jaya.

According to the statement, nearly all the deaths were in country's province of Aceh at the tip of Sumatra, which was struckby tsunamis following a magnitude 8.7 earthquake.

Sri Lanka's government said on Tuesday more than 18,700 people were confirmed dead two days after a tsunami battered the island.

The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, which sent high waves crashing onto Sri Lanka's easternand southern shores.

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Tuesday called for national unity to rebuild the country that was devastated by the tsunamis on Sunday that killed thousands of people in the nation.

"I truly believe that this is the time for us to shed all our differences and unite to meet the challenge of rebuilding our country," Kumaratunga said in a televised address.

Thailand's death toll of Sunday's tsunami has raised over 1,500with more and more corpse discovered by rescue teams, the state-run Thai News Agency reported on Tuesday night.

"A brief government announcement at 16:00 this afternoon put the number of dead at 1,516, with 8,432 more people injured," saidthe report.

The number is expected to further rise with search and rescue still being carried on in the kingdom's six southwestern provinces.

Rescue workers said there were still some 1,000 bodies in the worst-hit Phnagnga Province that they can not reach.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra earlier told reporters that he expected the death toll to reach over 2,000.

In India, the Indo-Asian News Service reported Tuesday that thenation's mounting human toll has crossed 7,500.

By official estimates southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, a union territory in the south of India, accounted for some 4,500 deaths, closely followed by the Andaman and NicobarIslands in the Bay of Bengal with around 3,000 fatalities and another 2,000 missing and presumed dead.

Hundreds of people, mainly fishermen and children, are missing in Tamil Nadu. Andhra Pradesh state, located in southeast India, has suffered 90 casualties and southern Indian state of Kerala 160.With corpses still being washed ashore, the toll is expected to rise further.

The Maldives, which is among the countries hit by the disaster,reported 52 deaths. The elections commission announced Tuesday to postpone the nation's parliamentary elections scheduled on Friday by three weeks because of the devastating tidal waves.

In Myanmar, UNICEF said in a statement Tuesday that it has beeninformed by reliable sources that there have been at least 90 deaths due to tsunamis.

UNICEF Myanmar anticipates that emergency funding may be required to provide essential health, clean water and sanitation assistance in affected areas.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar government spokesman Brigadier-General Aung Thein said on Tuesday that 36 people were killed, 14 missing and 45 injured as of Tuesday afternoon.

Aung Thein, who is Deputy Information Minister, disclosed at a press conference here that 138 buildings were destroyed in some parts of the country's six divisions and states -- Tanintharyi, Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Rakhine and Shan (South) and 778 people were left homeless.