It's eerie to read about this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4125837.stm
Reporters' log: Asian quake disaster
Several countries around the Indian Ocean have been hit by devastating sea surges. The BBC's correspondents report from the affected areas as rescue attempts begin.
Matthew Grant : Madras, India : 2007 GMT
Many people were out walking or playing cricket on the beaches of Madras when the tidal wave struck. Police have recovered hundreds of bodies from the city and along the coast.
Others have been washed ashore. Some were thrown into lorries while others were carried to hospital on carts or in sacks.
Locals say they felt the rumble of the earthquake early this morning from its epicentre thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean.
Then, just over an hour later came what they describe as the wall of water. It slammed into the coastline.
It's now dark in Madras and most of the water's gone back out to sea but along the coast there's still signs of devastation.
Many of the roads there are closed and strewn with debris. Some of the shanty towns by the beaches are completely destroyed and out to see hundreds of fishermen are still believed to be missing.
Kylie Morris : Phuket, Thailand : 1635 GMT
I've just arrived at Phuket's airport where there are chaotic scenes. Hundreds of tourists are trying to leave.
Many British people on group holidays are desperate to get off the island and back to Bangkok.
Many individual stories of bravery and terror are emerging. One man told me he had tried and failed to resuscitate a young Thai boy.
I just met a couple at the airport who were leaving without their passport, without any of their belongings.
They had been swept from their hotel room after being given five minutes warning to get out. They couldn't get out in time.
The husband tried to hold onto his wife as long as he possibly could. She was swept away.
He caught up with her again, but he burnt his hands when he grabbed hold of electrical wires to try and brace himself against the waters.
Sanjeev Srivastava : Delhi, India : 1615GMT
There was no warning at all, which makes this tragedy unexplainable in the eyes of many people.
This part of the country is used to cyclones. There are a substantial number of people killed every year because of these.
Either because they can't move in time, or they are too poor to move.
But this tragedy has not differentiated between the rich and poor.
In some cases the more well-to-do have suffered more as they were on the beaches, or travelling as tourists.
Rachel Harvey : Jakarta, Indonesia : 1510 GMT
We've now had a sudden leap in the official casualty figures, which now stand at 1,847 people dead.
The worst affected part of Indonesia is Aceh, a province which has been sealed off for the last 18 months because of an ongoing conflict between the government and separatist rebels.
But it now seems clear that they're going to have to open up this province in order to allow the relief effort in.
Gina Wilkinson : Colombo, Sri Lanka : 1430 GMT
In the district of Trincomalee on the east coast, military officials say tsunami waves swept more than two kilometres inland washing away entire villages.
The injured are being moved inland amid fears of more tsunamis. President Chandrika Kumaratunga has declared a state of national disaster and is appealing for help from the international community.
Sanjeev Srivastava : Delhi, India : 1325 GMT
A number of cities have been badly hit. One is the town of Velakanni, a small fishing village in Tamil Nadu which is also a pilgrim town. It is famous for its church. A number of pilgrims were taking a bath in the holy waters there.
400 or maybe 500 of them have drowned in those waters. But the numbers are pure guesswork at the moment.
Andrew Harding : Singapore : 1255 GMT
Some felt the quake first, others saw the sea sucked away from beaches only to return minutes later as a wall of water up to 30 feet high. The tsunamis have left a ring of devastation around the Indian Ocean, giant ripples travelling at the speed of a jet.
There have been more aftershocks but none as big as the original quake. The focus now is on searching for survivors and for bodies, and waiting to see if thousands of fishing boats will ever come home.
Navdip Dhariwal : Delhi, India : 1215 GMT
The state of Tamil Nadu has been worst hit after tidal waves lashed the south-eastern coast line.
Crashing waves rising almost two feet have trapped 500 tourists on a Rock memorial and a nuclear reactor has been forced to close down.
The Indian prime minister has put the Army, Navy and Air Force on full alert.
Gina Wilkinson : Colombo, Sri Lanka : 1120 GMT
A military spokesman says damage from the tsunami wave stretches all the way from Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka to the popular beaches in the south.
More than ten thousand military personnel, backed by naval vessels and helicopters are combing the coastline searching for survivors and pulling bodies from the sea.
In the district of Trincolome on the east coast officials say massive waves have dislodged landmines laid during the country's civil war hampering rescue efforts.
In the southern town of Maderapu police say more than 100 people died when a tsunami hit a weekend market, washing shoppers and vehicles out to sea.
There's also been extensive damage at a string of tourist resorts on the south coast packed with local and foreign holidaymakers.
Officials say they expect the death toll to rise, communications problems in some parts of the island are slowing efforts to assess the full scope of the disaster.
Sampath Kumar : Madras, India : 1115 GMT
Madras has one of the most beautiful beaches in India, stretching more than seven kilometres. Being a Sunday, many people were jogging, walking and exercising on the beach, while some were in the swimming.
All of a sudden, huge columns of water surged towards the land without any warning. Most of the people were caught unawares and had to run for their lives.
Eyewitnesses say that it appeared as though the entire sea was rushing towards them. The water rose to nearly 200 feet.
Fishermen living by the water say enormous columns of water swept their huts, boats and fishing nets.
Most of the dead are from fishermen and the worst affected area is in the heart of the city.
Matthew Grant : Calcutta, India : 0845 GMT
The police chief in Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu, said at least 100 bodies had been recovered from beaches in the city. Most of them were women and children.
Another hundred people are believed to have lost their lives as a result of the tsunami elsewhere in the state.
The impact of the quake was felt right along India's southern and eastern coasts. Many villages have been evacuated and fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea.
Kylie Morris : Bangkok, Thailand : 0800 GMT
The worst hit area is the holiday coast of southern and eastern Sri Lanka where the national disaster management centre says five hundred people are feared dead.
In southern India officials say hundreds of fishermen are missing. Rescue workers in Thailand say tourists in the resort of Phuket who had begun their Boxing Day with a morning swim were swept out to sea by the surging, towering waves.
In Indonesia, the troubled province of Aceh, in northern Sumatra, was closest to the epicentre of the earthquake where a local mayor said more than sixty people had drowned and hundreds of houses were swept away.
Roland Buerk : Moratuwa, Sri Lanka: 0750 GMT
The tidal wave struck without warning. A surge of water swept through beachfront hotels. There were loud crashes as buildings collapsed.
Everything, cars, tables, refrigerators and people were swept along by the current. I grabbed hold of a tree. When that came down I was swimming for my life until I managed to get hold of a pillar.
The waters here have now begun to recede slowly. They are leaving behind widespread devastation. People are digging through the ruins looking for loved ones.
Bodies are being pulled out and many of the survivors are wandering around in shock. Here, at least, rescuers are yet to arrive.
Indonesia quake said among most powerful
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