OneWorld.net (U.S.)

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec 28 (OneWorld) - In the wake of Sunday's devastating tsunamis that killed at least 25,000 people across South and Southeast Asia, the United Nations and aid groups worldwide have mobilized what could be the biggest relief operation in history.

Some three dozen U.S.-based relief groups active in the Asia region have also launched relief operations amid reports that thousands of people remain missing. Hundreds of thousands more have been rendered homeless by the devastating sea surges triggered by earthquake.

At 9.0 on the Richter scale, it was the fourth most powerful earthquake in the past century and sent tsunamis that flew across the Indian Ocean at 500 miles per hour before crashing into the coasts of at least seven countries. The hardest hit were Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, and Thailand.

The tsunami "is not the biggest in recorded history, but the effects may be the biggest ever because many more people live in exposed areas than ever before," said Jan Egeland, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), who announced that dozens of flights bearing relief aid were already en route to the worst affected areas.

"The cost of the devastation will be in the billions of dollars," he added. "However, we cannot fathom the cost of these poor societies and the nameless fishermen and fishing villages ... that have just been wiped out. Hundreds of thousands of livelihoods have gone."

Egeland and other relief officials said the most urgent need is for portable sanitation facilities, medical supplies, tents, and helicopters to deliver the aid. The greatest danger to the surviving populations is disease from contaminated drinking water.

"We're concerned about providing safe water, which is urgent in all these countries, and about preventing the spread of disease," said Carol Bellamy, the executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). "For children, the next few days will be the most crucial."

Sri Lanka, the tear-drop-shaped island nation off the southern coast of India suffered the greatest losses with 14,000 estimated dead and more than one million people displaced from their homes.

UNICEF reported that people in the northern part of the country, the primary site of a 20-year-old insurgency, face an additional danger--land mines. "Mines were floated by the floods and washed out of known mine fields, so now we don't know where they are, and the warning signs on mined areas have been swept away or destroyed," said UNICEF's Ted Chaiban. "The greatest danger to civilians will come when they begin to return to their homes, no knowing where the mines are."

In Indonesia, nearly 5,000 were reported killed, but Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters that as many as 10,000 people may have died in Aceh province alone. Aceh--which the Indonesian military closed off to outsiders two years ago as part of a major counter-insurgency campaign against an independence movement--was closest to the earthquake's epicenter.

India has also reported at least 3,500 dead, but authorities have indicated that many more remain unaccounted for. Also, they have yet to hear from officials in Andaman and Nicobar islands where thousands more are feared dead.

Thailand, where scores of foreign tourists are believed to have been victims, has reported nearly 1,000 dead, but many more missing. In the low-lying Maldives Islands--some of which were completely submerged by the surges--more than 50 deaths have been reported. Scores were also reported killed in Somalia, almost 4,000 miles across the Indian Ocean in the Horn of Africa.

In addition to the UN agencies, governments also pledged help and began sending relief supplies. The United States announced it will provide US$15 million in emergency assistance and was dispatching part of its Pacific Fleet to the area to help with relief operations.

The European Union also pledged some $4.1 million, while planes bearing supplies, rescue workers and medical personnel have been dispatched from Russia and throughout Europe to the region.

Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), led by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also launched relief operations.

InterAction, a coalition of some 160 U.S. NGOs, called for citizens to contribute funds and supplies, it provided names and contact information of 35 of its member organizations engaged in relief activities.