US forces are preparing to wind down tsunami relief efforts in Asia despite fears that some survivors were still desperate for help after a disaster that killed more than 226,000 people.
A man pleads for food supplies in the Aceh province
US Pacific Command chief Admiral Thomas Fargo said that almost four weeks after the tsunami, relief work was shifting to reconstruction and it was time to gradually cut the military deployment, which has involved some 16,500 US personnel and the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
"We still start right now transferring functions to the appropriate host nation and international organisations," Admiral Fargo told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.
In northern areas of Indonesia's Sumatra island, which was directly in the path of the killer wave on December 26th, relief officials said some remote areas were still not getting aid and that bodies were still being discovered.
Indonesia has been the worst hit by the disaster and its most staunchly Islamic region, northern Aceh province, has borne the brunt.
Indonesia increased its official death count by 50,000 yesterday as people formerly listed as missing were counted as casualties.
The new data raised Indonesia's toll to 166,000 and put global deaths at more than 225,000 - making the tsunami one of the eight deadliest natural disasters in history. Over 38,000 were killed in Sri Lanka, 16,000 in India and 5,300 in Thailand.
US military commanders said they expected most military aid work to be shifted to other groups by the end of February, although key operations such as ferrying aid supplies by helicopter would likely be the last to go.
Officials from around the world meeting at a disaster-management conference in Japan have pledged to develop a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean within 12 to 18 months.