Witnesses in Indonesia, where at least 4,185 people were killed as a huge earthquake sparked the tsunami, reported seeing walls of water obliterating entire villages of flimsy fishing huts along the northern coastline of impoverished Aceh province.

"According to villagers whom I talked to, the waves were up to 10 meters (33 feet) in height," said Mustofa Gelanggang, the head of Aceh's Bireuen district.

"The wave swept all settlements on the coast, and most houses, on stilts and made of wood, were either swept away or destroyed. Some areas were under between two and three meters of water for about two hours."

In Sri Lanka, among the worst hit countries with at least 3,225 dead, Waruna Premachandra was watching television when he saw people running and he heard the panicked scream: "The sea is coming inland."

The first wave swept in at a low level, but shortly afterwards the television cameraman heard a huge roar as another wave pummeled his home, forcing him to clamber onto his roof as his belongings were soaked downstairs.

"I saw houses and trees uprooted and being swept inland," said Waruna, 35, at his home 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of the capital Colombo.

Several hundred metres (yards) inland, fishing boats were left marooned along with mounds of sand from the beaches when the swirling waters receded, while vehicles, some overturned, were strewn everywhere.

Stranded holidaymakers, most of them Germans, were later moved to sports stadiums, banquet halls and private homes across the island after being forced to flee their beach-front resorts along the south coast of the island, tour operators said.

Several hundred policemen were sent to Sri Lanka's worst hit coastal areas to clear roads and to speed up procedures to release thousands of bodies piled up in hospitals.

Similar scenes were played out on the western coast of Thailand, as well as in Myanmar, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and the Maldives, devastating some of Asia's most popular tourist spots.

"Suddenly this huge wave came, rushing down the beach, destroying everything in its wake," said Simon Clark, a tourist on Ngai island in western Thailand where hundreds of people were killed.

"People that were snorkelling were dragged along the coral and washed up on the beach, and people that were sunbathing got washed into the seas," the 29-year-old photographer said.

Killer tsunamis unleashed by a powerful earthquake in Indonesia wreaked similar scenes of havoc in six countries across Asia, swallowing entire villages and leaving thousands dead and many more injured or missing.

"It is like a war zone," said British tourist Nicola Barton, 33, from Croydon, south of London, who is holidaying in the Indian Ocean's paradise islands of the Maldives where two thirds of the capital island were flooded.

"It is just horrific. There are wooden sunbeds floating round the island, chairs from the restaurants and glass smashed everywhere, bulbs from the lighting. We have all got life jackets in case it happens again," Barton said.

In India a group of schoolchildren who were playing cricket on the beach when a giant wave swept them out to sea as the tsunamis swept the coasts of the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, killing at least 2,447 people.

As the waters receded, scooters and vehicles, children's toys and house appliances could be seen strewn along beaches and roads.

In the sea, cars which had been parked by morning joggers along the landmark Marina beach in state capital Madras bobbed in the water. Morgues at government hospitals were overflowing with bodies, many of them children.

"I am cursed with a long life," said 70-year-old Jayanti Lakshmi, weeping over the bodies of her twin grandsons and only son in hard-hit Cuddalore, a coastal town 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of Madras.

"My daughter-in-law and I had gone shopping so we weren't home when the sea entered our hut. I wish I had died instead of the others, my daughter-in-law would have a life -- I can't bear to watch her pain."

Those fortunate enough to escape uninjured stood on high ground looking out to sea, seemingly puzzled by the calmness of the water after the destruction unleased by the earthquake only hours earlier.

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