The death toll from Sunday's massive tsunami tidal waves has climbed to nearly 7,000 Monday in India as the scale of death and destruction began unfolding 24 hours after the disaster struck.

Rescue workers stacked piles of bodies and ferried relief materials to survivors as relatives burnt and buried their near and dear ones along the southeastern coast.

Tamil Nadu has reported a toll of 3,200 and the worst hit was Nagapattinam, accounting for 1,700 deaths, while the toll in Kanniyakumari stood at 525, Cuddalore 400 and Chennai city 200.

The neighboring Union Territory of Pondicherry reported a loss of 377 lives, including 265 in Karaikal, an enclave surrounded by Tamil Nadu. Rains hindered relief work in Nagapattinam.

In Kerala, the toll has risen to 146 and in Andhra Pradesh 77. More than 5,000 people were feared to have been killed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

"It is now confirmed that more than 3,000 persons have been killed in Sunday morning's disaster," IGP Andaman and Nicobar S B Deol said, adding "another 2,000 people are missing and are believed to have died."

He said the casualty figure might go up as the extent of damagein a number of inhabited islands in the Nancowry group near the Great Nicobar island was yet to be ascertained.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a relief of Rs one lakh to the next of the kin of each of those killed in these states from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. He would also undertake an aerial survey of the affected areas Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua