The full horror of the destruction caused by the largest earthquake in 40 years across swathes of Asia emerged as the death toll soared over 17,000 and hopes faded for many thousands still missing. A relief and rescue operation covering a vast area was underway, with hundreds of bloated and bloodied bodies piling up in makeshift morgues at coastal cities, towns and tourist resorts across south and Southeast Asia. The trail of devastation came after an earthquake erupted off Indonesia on Sunday, triggering giant tidal waves which battered Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Malaysia. Indian towns began mass funerals, burying and burning some of the country's more than 6,200 dead while western holidaymakers desperately sought news of loved ones swept away in surging waters at tropical palm-fringed resorts. The situation in India's Andaman Islands, close to the epicenter of the earthquake, was rapidly emerging as one of the worst hit areas, with 3,000 dead in the archipelago according to a police official. "At a very conservative estimate I would say that 3,000 people are dead and as many missing," said S.B. Deol, inspector general of police, told NDTV news. The United Nations rushed disaster teams to south and southeast Asia, saying hundreds of thousands of people in coastal areas were at risk, with livelihoods from fishing and farming wiped out and disease threatening to wreak more havoc. Sunday's quake, the fourth largest recorded since 1900 and measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, occurred after a rupture on the Indian Ocean seabed caused by the violent grinding of two tectonic plates. Walls of water up to 10 metres (33 feet) high were reported around Asia, roaring ashore with unstoppable speed, sweeping people off beaches, flattening hotels and homes, uprooting trees and overturning cars. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the stricken countries needed portable sanitation facilities, medical supplies, tents and helicopters to evacuate people. India and Sri Lanka were mourning tolls of between 6,200 and 5,800 respectively, while the number of dead in Indonesia was given as 4,448 and rising as rescue teams moved into Aceh province on Sumatra island, the closest populated region to the quake's epicentre. A further 461 deaths were reported in Thailand, 44 in Malaysia and 32 in the Maldives, with Bangladesh and Myanmar recording a total of three fatalities. And another 300 people were feared missing on the picturesque Thai island of Phi Phi, famed around the world as the setting for Hollywood blockbuster 'The Beach'. At dawn Monday, hundreds of awestruck residents of Indonesia's Aceh province on Sumatra were still trying to comprehend the tidal waves that engulfed their villages, carrying away homes and relatives. "People told me it was as if God had unleashed His anger on the people," said Haji Ali, a resident in Patong Labu, a small settlement close to the north Aceh town of Bireuen. An AFP reporter among the first to reach the province's main city Banda Aceh, which has been in blackout since the quake struck, described a scene of ruin and death, with hundreds of bodies and pulverised buildings. Bloodied corpses covered by plastic sheets lay rotting on the ground at an Indonesian Red Cross office in Lambaro on the northern outskirts of the city. Police said there were 500 bodies at the centre. Health ministry officials in Jakarta said at least 3,000 of Indonesia's total dead were from the city, while Wawan Setiawan of the social welfare ministry's disaster team said the toll in the city alone could be up to 5,000. He said bodies were piling up across the region. Mosques were being used to collect the dead as hospital morgues spilled over. Television pictures showed rows of dead infants swaddled in traditional cloths, lying on hospital floors as relatives wept outside. In Thailand, an estimated one-third of the dead were foreign tourists, and the disaster also claimed the life of one of the kingdom's royal family, with a grandson of King Bhumibol Adulyadej confirmed dead. Survivors in Thailand told harrowing stories of seeing loved ones washed away in front of their eyes. The nation's top beach attractions were among the worst-hit as monster waves swept scores of people out to sea, drowned snorkellers, sank boats and shattered buildings along the coast. At Phuket International Hospital patients like 44-year-old Swedish tourist Gerdh Vall received treatment as they tearfully awaited news of missing relatives and friends. "My husband and 14-year-old daughter are missing since we were swept off the second floor of our hotel on Phi Phi island," she said, clutching the arm of her teenage son Johannes. At the small Tatong hospital in Phuket, health workers struggled to run a makeshift morgue in the car park. More than 30 bodies, ranging from small children to the elderly, lay on the ground. About one third were tourists, almost all still in their swimwear. Dozens of stunned townspeople and tourists as well as the walking wounded wandered among the swollen bodies, seeking a familiar face. "We have had 68 bodies here since this began this morning but now even more are coming" said a nurse in charge of documenting the bodies as another ten corpses arrived in the back of pickup trucks and ambulances. Governments from France to Australia and Russia to the United States pledged aid and assistance, despatched aircraft, doctors and specialists to the worst-hit areas. In Geneva, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed for 7.5 million Swiss francs (4.8 million euros, 6.6 million dollars) to help an estimated 500,000 survivors. In Malaysia, 44 people, including many elderly and children, were drowned and many others were missing after tidal waves hit the resort islands of Penang and Langkawi and the northwestern coast. On the Indian Ocean tourist paradise of the Maldives, a British tourist and 31 other people died after tidal waves lashed the archipelago, officials said. Three US citizens and a New Zealand woman were confirmed among the dead across the region. Australia said six of its nationals were missing. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Unidentified Indian people carry the dead body of a girl at the Marina beach in Madras after tidal waves hit the region. (AFP)