Besides praying for the well being of people in tsunami-hit areas, China's religious communities have raised and donated large sums of money for them.

According to the state bureau of religious affairs, the Buddhist community has donated 11.72 million yuan (US$1.41 million) to the Red Cross Society of China and the China Charity Foundation.

The bureau said the Taoist community has donated nearly 1 million yuan (US$120,000), and the Islamic, Catholic and Protestant Christian communities another several million yuan.

The number of people believed to have been killed in the disaster has reached 295,608, six weeks after the catastrophe, as Indonesia again increased its death toll.

Indonesia was hardest-hit by the earthquake-triggered tsunami on December 26, with a total of 242,347 people listed as dead or missing, the health ministry said in its latest figures.

The ministry said the number of people confirmed dead had risen to 114,573, while the number of people missing and almost certainly dead remained at 127,774.

Thailand's toll remained at 5,393 confirmed dead. A further 3,071 people were listed as missing, more than 1,000 of them foreigners.

The toll in Sri Lanka, which was second hardest hit by the catastrophe, stood at 30,957, according to the Center for National Operations. The number of missing was 5,637, but many were expected to be among those never formally identified, hurriedly buried and included in the death toll.

In neighboring India, the official death toll was 10,749 with 5,640 still missing and feared dead. The government was soon expected to draw up final figures in which the missing would be officially declared dead.

Myanmar has said 61 people were killed there, and at least 82 were killed and another 26 missing in the Maldives.

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

On the east coast of Africa, 298 people were declared dead in Somalia, 10 in Tanzania and one in Kenya. Relief workers have said they believe the figure for Somali fatalities may be exaggerated.

The US Geological Survey said 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.

The total figure of 295,608 includes the 127,774 in Indonesia and 5,640 in India listed as missing but likely to be dead. But the 3,071 people listed as missing in Thailand and 5,637 in Sri Lanka are not included due to possible double counting.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2005)