Tsunami's toll leaps above 117,000

The death toll from the tsunami disaster has rocketed to more than 117,000 after Indonesia found tens of thousands of new bodies on the northern island of Sumatra.

Indonesian officials reported Thursday that nearly 28,000 more people had been confirmed dead on the island, which lies only 150 kilometres from the epicentre of Sunday's quake.

The double hit of earthquake and tsunami obliterated the northwest coast and destroyed nearly two-thirds of Aceh province's capital city, Banda Aceh, according to the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF.

The new count brings the death toll to about 80,000 in Indonesia the country hardest hit by the disaster, followed by Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

False tsunami alarm sparks panic

Meanwhile, officials in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand tried to reassure tens of thousands of people who fled the coasts after officials warned that new tsunamis might be on the way.

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The Indian government issued the alert at midday following reports that several smaller quakes aftershocks of the 9.0-magnitude temblor that sent tsunami waves into 12 countries on Dec. 26 had pushed up water levels.

Tens of thousands of residents fled for high ground along India's southeast coast, in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and on the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

In Sri Lanka, villagers on the coast climbed onto rooftops while the military warned them not to panic.

In southern Thailand, emergency sirens sent people sprinting from beaches.

But experts said the quakes were about 1,000 times less powerful than Sunday's temblor which devastated shorelines around the Indian Ocean and unlikely to send out a tsunami.

Hours later, no major waves had reached shore and India's science minister, Kapil Sibal, dismissed the warning as "hogwash."

Meanwhile, rescuers raced against time to reach survivors, as the World Health Organization warned that up to five million people urgently need clean water, food and sanitation.

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On Sumatra, pilots dropped medicine and instant noodles to cliff-ringed coastal villages that rescuers hadn't yet reached on foot.

In the capital city of Aceh province, Banda Aceh, military vehicles dropped off food, sparking fights among desperate residents.

In India, emergency crews combed thick forests in the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, where authorities fear as many as 10,000 more people may be buried in mud and thick vegetation.

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Many villagers there haven't eaten for two days and have faced additional danger from crocodiles that washed ashore during the tsunami.

In other parts of southern India, paramedics are vaccinating as many as they can against cholera, typhus, hepatitis A and dysentery. Bleaching powder is being spread on beaches where many of the bodies were found.

In southern Thailand, the resort area around Khao Lak north of Phuket is the focus of a massive search and recovery operation.

Rescue teams from Germany, Taiwan and Sweden have arrived to help in the search for missing Europeans and locals. The Swedish government says many of its 1,500 nationals in Thailand are still unaccounted for and may be dead.

Up to 500 Norwegians, hundreds of French and about 1,000 Germans are also missing.

World leaders have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to provide relief to the survivors.