Millions of people are homeless, tens of thousands of bodies still uncollected and vital infrastructure seriously damaged Wednesday after the worst earthquake and tsunamis hit the South Asian countries three day ago.

With over 71,000 confirmed dead, these countries are taking measure to cope with the huge tragedy. Meanwhile, foreign countries are also stepping up humanitarian aid to the victim countries Wednesday.

China donated 300,000 US dollars to the Thai government for disaster relief in the kingdom's southwestern coast.

The donation was handed to Thai Foreign Minister Surakiat Sathirathai by Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jiuhuan on Wednesday afternoon.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Wednesday said that it would send more personnel to Thailand's island of Phuket to help search for Filipino victims in the tsunami caused by a strong earthquake off Indonesian coast on Sunday.

Secretary Alberto Romulo said that these personnel should also help facilitate the issuance of travel documents as well as delivery of assistance to those affected by the tsunami that hit the tourist resort and other several Asian countries on Sunday.

Philippine Ambassador to Thailand Antonio Rodriguez said that he has already formed a special Embassy Task Force to closely coordinate with Thai authorities and the rescue teams in the search for Filipinos affected by tsunami.

The Philippine government Wednesday said that forensic personnel, who can help in the much-needed identification of the dead in the recent tsunamis in South Asia, will be included in thePhilippine medical contingent sent to the affected countries.

Philippine Defense Secretary Avelino J. Cruz Jr. said that the forensic team will come from the National Bureau of Investigation and will be initially fielded in Thailand.

Regular medical personnel of the bureau will also be part of the team tapped for humanitarian assistance to the tsunami victims,he said.

Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator, Elma Aldea, said that the deployment of a composite medical and laboratory technicians was finalized after Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatre requested Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for immediate humanitarian assistance in the form of medical missions to assist tsunami survivors.

The Philippine Health Department is also coordinating with counterparts in the affected countries as to what specific medicalsupplies might be needed. Enditem

Singapore on Wednesday sent two Chinook helicopters to Indonesia to help the country to continue its relief efforts, according to a statement by the Ministry of Defense.

Two Super Puma helicopters will leave for the neighboring country tomorrow with the remainder of the 25-member military medical team. Advance elements of the military medical team arrived in Indonesia's Medan on a Fokker 50 aircraft this afternoon.

As part of its humanitarian relief to tsunami-hit areas, Singapore will send a navy ship, a second medical team and an engineer team from the Singapore armed forces as a composite humanitarian assistance task force to Indonesia on December 31.

The helicopters will conduct search and rescue operations, casualty evacuations and transport relief and logistical supplies as well as personnel.

In addition, Singapore will also send two Chinooks and two Super Pumas to help the Thai relief efforts. The Singapore Civil Defense Force will send two Disaster Assistance and Rescue Teams comprising 23-men each to Indonesia's Medan and Thailand's Phuket to help search for missing persons.

Singapore also airlifted humanitarian relief supplies to Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Also, Bangladesh will send two armed forces teams Thursday to take part in the rescue and relief operations in Sri Lanka and theMaldives, two tsunami-hit member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation as requested.

The teams are being sent to carry on rescue operations in the unprecedented natural disaster in the two friendly countries as per government's decision, an official press release said Wednesday.

A 96-member armed force team will go to Sri Lanka and a 61-member team to the Maldives by two C-130 air force planes with necessary rescue, relief and medical supplies. The two teams will be composed of Army medical and Engineering corps and members of the Navy and Air Force.

The relief materials include water purification plant, tube wells, rescue boats, tents, medicine and clothes.

Bangladesh Navy will send one offshore patrol vessel to Sri Lanka and the Maldives each for logistic support as part of the rescue and relief operations. Two helicopters of Bangladesh Air Force Bell-212 will also take part in the relief operations, the press release said.