This is a surpise to me. I had assumed that there were at most a couple hundred American citizens missing in the Tsunami disaster. According to the State Department though, it is "several thousand":
"Our effort is strong and it is active," Boucher said at a State Department briefing in Washington that touched on the grisly efforts to find missing Americans and to identify victims.
Boucher said American diplomats, for instance, were visiting morgues in Indonesia as part of their search. The U.S. death toll was officially raised from 12 to 14, with seven dead in Thailand and seven in Sri Lanka.
Some 600 Americans who were listed as missing have been found, Boucher said, but several thousand had not been located four days after the disaster struck.
In Sri Lanka, Boucher said, Americans have been showing up at U.S. consular offices wearing bathing suits, with no money and no clothes.
This is the first time I've heard anything close to this number in terms of American citizens. Is it possible more Americans will lose their lives in the Tsunami disaster than lost their lives on 9/11?
Update [2004-12-30 22:43:28 by pontificator]: Some commentators thought it was insensitive of me not to also mention the much greater number of people who died who are of other nationalities. Here is a list of confirmed deaths by country compiled by CNN. The numbers are sadly expected to rise:
Deaths by country:
Indonesia: 79,940
Sri Lanka: 24,673, with another 6,589 missing and considered most likely dead.
India: At least 10,000
Thailand: More than 4,000. Thai PM says toll could exceed 7,000.
Myanmar: 90
Malaysia: 66
Maldives: 46
Tanzania: 10
Bangladesh: 2
Somalia: Kenyan media reports hundreds dead.
Kenya: Kenyan media reports one death.
Seychelles: Unconfirmed reports of deaths.