GRIM WORK: Charity workers carry the body of a villager killed by the tidal wave which swept through Nam Khem village in Pang-Nga province, southern Thailand. (AP)

COLOMBO - The confirmed death toll from the massive earthquake and tidal waves that devastated much of Asia's coastline soared above 55 000 yesterday, with officials warning the figure was likely to rise steeply.

As rotting bodies stack up and contaminate water supplies across Asia, fears grew yesterday that sickness will pile more misery on a region reeling two days on from its worst disaster in living memory.

With infrastructure, including latrines and water wells, in the worst hit areas in tatters, international organisations urged that the thousands of bloated corpses littering beaches, streets and makeshift morgues be disposed of quickly to stem the threat of disease.

"The people should be buried and the animals should be destroyed and disposed of before they infect the drinking water. It's a massive operation," said United Nations disaster relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland.

Experts said that though the risk of epidemics varied from country to country according to their standards of hygiene, hot temperatures, poor to non-existent sewerage and spoiled food provided breeding grounds for germs. In particular, the decomposing bodies contaminating water would provide ideal conditions for water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and malaria.

"The biggest health challenges we are facing are the spread of waterborne diseases, particularly malaria and diarrhoea, as well as respiratory tract infections," said International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies health official Hakan Sandbladh.

Food shortages were also shaping up as a major concern, especially in the more remote parts of Asia devastated by the 10-metre-high waves that slammed into nine countries on Sunday.

In Indonesia's Aceh province, near the epicentre of the undersea earthquake that sparked the tsunamis and where up to 25 000 are feared dead, a local police chief from the cut-off town of Meulaboh suggested the worst had yet to be seen.

"If within three to four days relief does not arrive, there will be a starvation disaster that will cause mass deaths," Rilo Pambudi said in an e-mail, released by officials in Jakarta.

Across the Indian Ocean in Sri Lanka, where 12 000 people were killed by the wall of water that smashed into the island, drinking water wells along the country's coastal regions were badly contaminated.

"We need things like water purification tablets and safe drinking water. We also need equipment to clean water wells," said government minister Susil Premajayantha.

Sri Lankan officials said their biggest challenge with 375 000 families displaced was sanitation.

"Sanitation is a main concern and we are trying to set up enough latrines for the refugees," said Agriculture Minister Anura Dissanayake.

The worst hit town in India, Nagapattinam in southern Tamil Nadu state, where at least 1 700 died, was lashed by rain yesterday, adding to the misery of a community in ruins and where bodies continued to be washed ashore.

Hundreds of makeshift relief camps have been opened at various places in the coastal areas of India hit with tens of thousands taking shelter, according to the government.

The camps were providing free food, water and medical treatment, but the spectre of disease was looming large.

"The most important things needed now are food, clothing and shelter," said Manish Choudhry, director of the Red Cross in New Delhi.

Fresh water was also a major problem on India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where giant waves wiped out at least 3 000 people.

"There is no water, no electricity and no food," said Manish Shah, manager of the upscale Port Blair Sinclair Hotel.

The pervasive stench of death and disease was also all-consuming in Thailand, where 2 000 people may have died.

In severely stricken Phang Nga province north of Phuket island, corpses were lined up several deep alongside roads in coastal towns as unclaimed bodies waited to be identified.

The United Nations said the biggest disaster relief operation ever staged would be needed for the victims.

Planes carrying doctors, rescue experts, food and hospital equipment were expected to arrive today in the countries that suffered most. - Sapa-AFP