The death toll from an earthquake off Indonesia and tidal waves that it unleashed reached 14,122 today as officials reported deaths in seven countries in southern and southeastern Asia.

Sri Lanka was hard hit with 4,857 people confirmed dead, and 1,538 others reported missing, said relief officials and Tamil Tiger rebels who control parts of the north of the island.

In Indonesia, at least 4,448 people were killed as the country took the full force of the huge earthquake and tidal waves that swallowed entire coastal villages.

At least 4,278 people were killed in southern India, the Press Trust of India quoted officials as saying.

At least 461 people were killed and more than 3,800 injured in southern Thailand, including foreign tourists at famous seaside resorts, officials said.

In Malaysia, 44 people, including many elderly and children, were killed, officials said.

A British tourist and 31 other people died in the low-lying Maldives, officials said.

In Bangladesh a father and child were killed after a tourist boat capsized from large waves, local officials said.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake registered west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra measured 9.0 on the Richter scale.