tsunami

Even amid the carnage and despair of Japan's tsunami victims, the plight of the 30 children at Kama Elementary School is heartbreaking. They sit quietly in the corner of a third-floor classroom where they have waited each day since the tsunami swept into the town of Ishinomaki for their parents to collect them. So far, no one has come and few at the school now believe they will.

Foreign and Thai relatives of those who perished in the devastating tsunami disaster that hit Thailand’s six Andaman coastal provinces on Boxing Day in 2004 held remembrance events for their beloved ones in the two southern resort provinces, officials said.

Phuket’s first-ever night tsunami evacuation drill last night was a qualified success, but officials say more needs to be done to ensure residents in all risk areas are truly ready to conduct an after-dark evacuation.

Planes and helicopters packed with rescue workers and supplies landed for the first time Wednesday on remote Indonesian islands that were pounded by a 10-foot (three-meter) tsunami, sweeping away villages and killing at least 272 people.