Asia Tsunami Death Toll Soars to 87,000

Death Toll

In Sri Lanka, the confirmed death toll has risen to over 24,000 and more than 4,500 people are still missing, according to government officials.

"There are 24,297 dead and 4,589 missing," Alam Meer, deputy director of the Social Welfare Ministry — which is coordinating relief efforts — told Reuters.

The death toll in the hardest-hit Indonesia’s Aceh province reached to 50,000 with numbers of victims expected to rise, according to the BBC.

UNICEF said Thursday that the death toll in Indonesia could rise to as high as 80,000 with nearly a million children in need of assistance.

The international children’s agency estimated that 60 percent of Banda Aceh, the main town of Sumatra’s Aceh province, was destroyed.

"It’s going to be 75,000 to 80,000 no question," said John Budd, a UNICEF spokesman in Jakarta said.