It's taken a while for reporters to reach some of the more remote coastal towns hit by Sunday's tidal wave - with the notable exception of the Washington Post's Michael Dobbs, who was swimming around a tiny Sri Lankan island when it struck. His account ("It seemed like a scene from the Bible") is compelling reading.
The Hindustan Times found displaced Chennai fishermen and their families crouching by the side of roads, dumbfounded by the scale of the disaster. It was, the paper says, hard to find anyone who had not been bereaved. Some of the victims had barricaded themselves in their homes, making it impossible to estimate the number of dead.
The Jakarta Post, apparently overwhelmed by traffic, has been down for most of the day, but the Times of India has held up - just. "The water came without warning, sucking out into the swollen sea fishermen in catamarans, women selling fish on the shore, children playing cricket, bathing pilgrims, morning walkers and tourists," reports the paper. "Said S Muttukumar, a Chennai fisherman: 'We saw the sea come forward. Everybody was running, but God saves little.'"
The poor were not the only victims. In Thailand, meanwhile, the king's grandson was swept away as he jet-skiied along the coast. His body was washed up on the shore.
