GENEVA - The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that disease in the aftermath of southern Asia's tsunami disaster could kill as many people as the waves and earthquake have.
With relief officials warning of possible cholera epidemics and malaria, Dr. David Nabarro, head of crisis operations for WHO, told reporters in Geneva that "there is certainly a chance that we could have as many dying from communicable diseases as from the tsunami."
Nabarro said the main threat to life is communicable diseases associated with a lack of clean water and sanitation.
"The initial terror associated with the tsunamis and the earthquake itself may be dwarfed by the longer term suffering of the affected communities," Nabarro said.
Hospitals and health services are overwhelmed by the impact of the earthquake, Nabarro said.
Relief organizations are distributing supplies over 11 countries in Asia and Africa, and the United Nations has said it will likely make its largest appeal for humanitarian funding in response to the disaster.
Aid begins arriving
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Trucks carrying blankets, food and medical supplies made their first aid deliveries to survivors in Asia.
Twelve trucks carrying rice, lentils and sugar left a U.N. World Food Program depot in Colombo on Tuesday, headed to the country's southern and eastern coasts, and the U.N. mission was dispatching water bottles, bed sheets and cooking utensils.
A Red Cross plane with 105 tons of blankets, medicine and tarps for 50,000 people was en route to the island nation from Kenya, while the British aid agency Oxfam said a flight carrying 27 tons of aid would leave today for Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
About 175 tons of rice arrived in Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island, the region closest to Sunday's quake, and six tons of medical supplies were to arrive by Thursday.
Meanwhile, U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland praised rich nations for their generous response but said much more will be needed to rebuild the shattered nations. Egeland said that his complaint Monday that rich nations were "stingy" when it came to helping poorer nations wasn't directed at any country or at the response to the disaster.
Celebrities affected
BANGKOK, Thailand - A German statesman, a Czech supermodel and a Swedish Olympic ski champion were among the vacationers in tropical southern Asia who were affected by the tsunamis.
Petra Nemcova - who was on the cover of the 2003 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue - was carried away with her boyfriend, fashion photographer Simon Atlee, after a huge wave plowed into southern Thailand on Sunday.
Nemcova's New York spokesman, Rob Shuter, said the model and her boyfriend had been vacationing in Phuket when waves overwhelmed their beach hut.
Nemcova, 25, clung to a tree for eight hours as the water swirled around her. She was recovering in a Thai hospital from broken bones, possibly including a broken pelvis, and unspecified internal injuries.
Atlee, 33, is missing.
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was on holiday in Sri Lanka. Kohl and his entourage were evacuated Tuesday from a hotel by the Sri Lankan air force.
Swedish skiing great Ingemar Stenmark was sunbathing in Thailand when he saw an immense wave roaring to shore. He and his girlfriend were not injured.
Several Italian soccer players - including AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi, Milan captain Paolo Maldini, and Juventus defender Gianluca Zambrotta - were caught in the maelstrom in the Maldives but were unhurt.
Hollywood actor-director Richard Attenborough's granddaughter, Lucy, 14, died and his daughter, Jane, and her mother-in-law are missing in Phuket.
