110 reported killed by tsunami in Somalia

An estimated 110 people were killed in Somalia when the tsunami triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean struck the Horn of Africa coastline, relief workers and local authorities said. About 10,000 affected people were in need of immediate assistance, especially on the small low-lying peninsula of Hafun in northern Somalia where up to 85 percent of the infrastructure was reportedly damaged. Some 22 boats were missing as well. The newly created Somali government and authorities in the self-declared, autonomous northeastern region of Puntland appealed for international relief assistance on Tuesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. There were reports of more displaced people in Bander Beyla, Baargaal and Eyl, it added. OCHA, which was coordinating efforts to assist those affected, said that the most urgent needs included food, medicine, shelter materials, cooking utensils and clothes. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it was due to start distributing food aid on Wednesday to an estimated 2,000 people in Hafun. Some 31 mt of food was being transported by road from the Gulf of Aden port town of Bosasso to Hafun, WFP spokeswoman, Laura Melo, told IRIN. However, she added that the road from Bosasso to Hafun was in "very bad shape", making the journey to the affected area slow. "Hafun is the only place where we know about the situation," Melo said, adding that the UN was planning an aerial assessment on Thursday to make an inventory of all the areas affected along Somalia's coast. The interim prime minister of Somalia, Ali Muhammad Gedi, told reporters in Nairobi he would lead a delegation of Somali MPs, government officials and NGOs to assess the damage caused by the waves "in the next few days". A disaster committee composed of Somali officials was also being formed. The deputy speaker of Somalia's transitional federal parliament, Mohammed Omar Dala, had told IRIN on Tuesday that nearly 50 people drowned, mainly fishermen who were out at sea. Relief agencies said the region most affected by the tsunami in eastern Africa was the tip of the Horn, particularly in northeast Puntland around Bandar, Murdayo, Raas Caseyr, Bargal and Hafun. WFP said it had food stocks in Puntland, which could be used for the tsunami-generated emergency. A total of 1,000 mt of food, which was destined for drought and floods victims, was currently available in Puntland, the agency said. Assistance to drought and floods victims would continue, but some stocks could be diverted to assist the tidal wave victims, according to WFP. A vessel with another 1,300 mt would be dispatched soon from the Kenyan port of Mombassa to Bosasso, it added. Sunday's tsunami waves also slammed into Tanzania, where at least 10 people, mostly children, died, police in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, said. In Kenya, authorities sealed off the beaches on Monday to prevent people from exposing themselves to the danger posed by the rushing waters. Sources said three people died but confirmed one. The beaches were later reopened. Damaged infrastructure was also reported in the Indian Ocean islands of Seychelles and Madagascar. The tsunami, caused by an earthquake off Indonesia, hit coastal areas in the archipelago as well as in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, The Maldives and Malaysia, leaving a trail of death and destruction. Over 50,000 people were reported killed by mid-Tuesday, but the death toll was expected to rise.