Tsunami death toll over 147,000 in South Asia

This is not original reporting. All information has been gathered from various stories from The Washington Post.

An enormous earthquake centered off the western end of the Indonesian archipelago unleashed a series of tsunamis in south Asia on Sunday Dec. 26, leveling villages, leaving millions homeless and killing at least 147,000 people in over 12 countries in the region. The disaster sparked an international effort to aid stricken areas.

According to The Washington Post, the 9.0 magnitude quake was the strongest in 40 years and the fourth- most-powerful since 1900.

The initial earthquake struck the western end of Indonesia's Sumatra island at 6:58 a.m. on Sunday, flattening buildings and sending walls of water as high as 30 feet into the towns and villages in the province of Aceh. The quake's epicenter was located 155 miles southeast of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.

The official death toll from the quake has continued to rise and is now at 147,457. The Indonesian government estimated that 101,318 people died on the island nation. Approximately 30,615 people were killed in Sri Lanka, 9,682 in India, 5,291 in Thailand, 68 in Malaysia and 90 in Burma, according to The Washington Post. Deaths were also reported as far away as Somalia, which is located around 2,400 miles west of the quake's epicenter.

Massive relief efforts from across the globe began immediately in the wake of the catastrophe. According to The Washington Post, rescue flights delivered supplies, including food, water and medicine, for millions of survivors around South Asia yesterday, but many towns still cannot be reached by relief workers.

The U.S. government pledged $35 million in financial aid for the relief effort, and President Bush said that amount is "only the beginning of our help." Government officials said that the U.S. will pledge substantially more as damage assessments are finished, according to The Washington Post. For now, the U.S. government has sent military personnel and equipment to stricken areas, as well health experts to help stem the spread of deadly diseases.

Other nations, including Spain, Japan, Britain, Australia, Germany, France and Denmark, have pledged millions in aid as well.