120,000 dead:

The overall toll was revised dramatically upwards after the Indonesian health ministry raised its official figure by nearly 30,000 to 79,940. The counting was far from complete, officials added. In Sri Lanka, people climbed onto the roofs of their houses while others fled from the coastline after authorities used fire engines equipped with loudspeakers to urge residents to move to higher ground. The country's military urged people to be alert, but not to panic, while an earthquake expert said the aftershocks were probably not strong enough to produce tsunamis. But with neighbouring India ordering an evacuation of coastal areas, instructions that were heard on radios in Sri Lanka, some people did panic. "There is total confusion here," said Rohan Bandara, a resident of the coastal town of Tangelle. "The aim of all the people is not to see the waves again, so they are leaving." Cars, vans and motorbikes jammed roads leading away from coastlines. Some people hauled their most valuable possessions stuffed into plastic bags. "Some people whose houses weren't so badly affected by Sunday's tsunami are also now running toward welfare centres," said Suresh Devaraj, of Trincomalee, another coastal town. India denied having issued a fresh warning but said it had urged people to take precautions after information that several aftershocks in the region had pushed up the water level. An estimated 5.7 magnitude underwater earthquake was recorded at 5.18am local time (2118 GMT yesterday) off the coast of Sumatra. Other tremors were felt in Thailand and Burma. As aid agencies struggled to cope with the scale of the disaster, the World Health Organisation warned that the next few days would be critical in controlling any potential outbreak of waterborne diseases.