Thursday, January 13 2005 13:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jakarta: The death toll from the earthquake and tsunamis that devastated the Indian Ocean coastlines last month approached 1,60,000 today (Jan 13, 2005) as India and Sri Lanka reported new deaths.

Indonesia was hardest-hit by the December 26 quake and tsunamis, with 1,06,523 confirmed deaths and 12,047 people missing, the Social Affairs Ministry said.

In Sri Lanka Government figures issued today showed the toll had risen by 11 to 30,893 while the number of those reported missing had come down by 50 to 6,038.

The death toll in Thailand stood at 5,313, but the number of missing continued to slip, down by 91 names today to 3,254, including 1,063 foreigners.

Myanmar's Prime Minister Soe Win has said 59 people were killed in the tsunamis and more than 3,200 left homeless. This was down from the UN's estimated 90.

At least 82 people were killed and another 26 were missing in the Maldives, a Government spokesman said.

Sixty-eight people were dead in Malaysia, most of them in Penang, according to police, while Bangladesh reported two deaths.

Fatalities also occurred on the east coast of Africa where 298 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya.

The US Geological Survey said that the earthquake west of the Indonesian Island of Sumatra measured 9.0 on the Richter scale - making it the largest quake worldwide in four decades.