Sunday, January 2 2005 20:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai/Port Blair: A week after the giant tidal waves left its trail of death and destruction life was slowly returning to normal in the worst-hit Tamil Nadu but authorities were finding it difficult to reach relief in far-flung islands of Andaman and Nicobar.

With the death toll being officially put at 9,145 and more than 5,000 people missing, the Centre today (Jan 2, 2005) announced formation of a 10-member team each for Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala to asses the damage besides working on the funds required for rehabilitation.

For Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an integrated Unified Command for relief and rehabilitation operations has already started functioning. The major difficulty faced in the Islands is the problem of logistics and infrastructure in reaching relief to people in various far-flung Islands.

The death toll in the tsunami-hit countries in the region is estimated at between 1.27 lakh and 1.50 lakh with Indonesia accounting for about 80,000 followed by about 30,000 in Sri Lanka. Several thousand people were still missing.

In the worst-affected Tamil Nadu's Nagapattinam district where nearly 5000 people have died, all out efforts were being made by the authorities with the help of NGOs to put life back on track.

In a bid to prevent outbreak of epidemic, a massive drive to inoculate 1.15 lakh children in Tamil Nadu and Kerala has been undertaken by the UNICEF (United Nations Children's Emergency Fund).

In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, teams of doctors along with emergency medical supplies have been despatched to Car Nicobar, one of the tsumani-hit areas on a similar mission.