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Indonesia's tsunami death toll rose by 5,000 for the second time in two days as workers continued burying victims Monday, and the number of people presumed dead in last month's Asian tsunamis exceeded 286,000.
Meanwhile, tourism officials gathered at the Thai resort of Phuket to discuss how to bring travelers back to ravaged Asian beaches.
Just over five weeks after the tsunami disaster, the overall toll stood between 156,000 and 178,000 across 11 nations, with an estimated 26,500 to 142,000 missing, most of whom are presumed dead. The range in death estimates reflects differing figures released by separate agencies in worst-hit Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
There has been optimism that the immensity of the disaster in Indonesia's Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island will spur the government and separatist rebels there to end a long-running conflict and focus on rebuilding.
Talks between them broke off inconclusively over the weekend in Helsinki, Finland.
But the two sides agreed to resume talks on February 21 and the guerrillas were ready to consider setting aside their demand for secession if Indonesia agrees to hold an independence referendum within five to 10 years, rebel commander Teungku Adam said yesterday in north Aceh.
Indonesian Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil described the weekend talks as "quite hopeful."
Indonesia's National Disaster Relief Coordinating Board said yesterday the death toll rose by 5,085 -- from 103,025 to 108,110 -- because additional bodies were found and buried. The agency announced a similar increase on Sunday.
The Health Ministry was expected to update its numbers in line with the disaster relief board's later in the day.
A third Indonesian agency has a higher death count, of 123,198.
International tourism officials were gathering on Thailand's Phuket Island, along a coast where thousands of victims were washed away by the tsunami. On the agenda were ways of bringing visitors and their needed cash to the region's resorts.
In other developments, the tsunami-battered Andaman and Nicobar islands of India were rocked by eight earthquakes measuring 5 to 5.3 on the Richter scale on Sunday, according to Indo-Asian News Service.
The quakes, classified as "moderate" by the India Meteorological Department, started just after midnight Saturday and continued till 8:49 am Sunday.
The epicenters of the tremors were located off the east coast of Car Nicobar Island, the north coast of Camorta and northwest of North Andaman Islands.
(China Daily February 1, 2005)
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