Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha said over 1,500 deathshad been recorded in Tamil Nadu along.

Hundreds, mainly poor fishermen, were missing in the wake of the dawn quake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale in Indonesia whose aftershocks took a heavy toll in the Andaman and Nicobar islands as well as in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh andKerala.

Kerala accounted for some 100 deaths and Andhra Pradesh, according to Home Minister Shivraj Patil, some 200.

This is one of the worst tragedies to strike India since the January 2001 quake of Gujarat killed nearly 25,000.

The government's Crisis Management Group said this is also the first time that tsunamis, or giant tidal waves, have hit the Indian coast.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured states hit by the devastating tsunamis of all support and assistance for relief and rehabilitation efforts and appealed to his people to remain calm.

"I am deeply distressed by the large-scale devastation that hasbeen wrought. My heartfelt sympathies are with the families of thebereaved and with all those affected in our country," he said.

Thousands of people fled their homes in Chennai after the tremors continued for several minutes and seawater entered their properties, catching them unawares and triggering unprecedented panic.

The tidal waves caused flooding in central areas and a power outage in thickly populated parts. The Chennai airport was shut and all flights to and from the city were canceled till Sunday evening.

Officials in Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad confirmed 60 deaths but said they expected the toll to rise as reports of missing fishermen were pouring in from dozens of villages along the state's 1,000-km-long coastline.

Some 700 fishermen were reported missing in Prakasam district alone and Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy announced the payment of Rs.100,000 as compensation to the kin of the dead.

In the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the destruction was unprecedented, with the gigantic tidal waves sinking two civilian ships and destroying dry docks - which officials said would not beoperational for six months - and a fuel tank.

Some 45,000 people on the Car Nicobar and Great Nicobar islandswere affected, officials said. Three AN-32 transport planes of theIndian Air Force were sent with relief materials to the islands.

The tsunamis and tremors, felt along India's eastern coast from6:15 a.m. (0245 GMT), were caused by a huge quake with its epicenter off Indonesia's Sumatra island.