Rain adds to misery in S. Asia

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — After the devastation wreaked by the seas, a deluge from the skies deepened the misery for tsunami-stricken areas Saturday, triggering flash floods in Sri Lanka that sent evacuees fleeing and increasing the threat of deadly disease as survivors shivered in relief centers. The death toll was likely to hit 150,000.

Two aftershocks jolted Sumatra as the world's aid efforts shifted into high gear in ways big and small: elephant convoys working in Thailand, global assistance reaching $2 billion with a fresh pledge from Tokyo, and the U.S. military launching one of the biggest relief missions in history.

The confirmed death toll from the quake and tsunamis that hit a week ago today passed 123,000, and the United Nations has said the estimated number is approaching 150,000. Thailand, where Utah teen Kali Breisch is missing, said it expects its death toll to reach 8,000.

Kali, 15; her sister Shonti, 18; and their brother Jai, 16, were vacationing at the Khao Lak resort with their father, Stuart Breisch, and his fiance, Sally Nelson, when the tsunami struck. Jai was injured, and the family is now considering ways to return to Utah.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided to visit Indonesia, the hardest hit nation, where the official death toll stood at more than 80,000, but officials said it could reach 100,000. Annan will attend a conference Thursday in Jakarta on organizing relief.

"We mourn, we cry and our hearts weep to witness thousands of victims sprawled everywhere," said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, touring the damage on Sumatra island, which bore the brunt of both the quake and the waves.

A dozen American Seahawk helicopters sent from the USS Abraham Lincoln touched down in Banda Aceh and other parts of Sumatra island's devastated northwest coast, bringing relief supplies, including temporary shelters. Also, a flotilla of cargo planes carrying Marines and water purifying equipment headed to Sri Lanka.

A day after President Bush upped the U.S. pledge to $350 million, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced Saturday that his country would contribute up to $500 million to relief efforts.

"The carnage is of a scale that defies comprehension," President Bush said in his weekly radio address, announcing a proclamation calling for U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff this week in honor of the dead. Secretary of State Colin Powell was also heading for the region.

But the dollar figures were an abstraction for survivors whose hearts were broken once again by water.