At least 4,300 people have been confirmed dead in India's worst-affected area of Nagapattinam, bringing the total death toll in Tamil Nadu to more than 6,000, a local official said here on Thursday.

Vivek Harinaram, coordinating commissioner for relief in Nagapattianm, told Xinhua that the death toll in this district nowstood at 4,332 with most of them women and children, and the number is still climbing as some dead bodies are yet to be found and some seriously injured might loss their life.

"The situation here is very serious. Some fishing villages werecompleted devastated and the economic loss could be assessed only after a week or so," he said.

He said up to 60 earth-moving machines were used to dig pits for burying the corpses and to remove the debris in the affected areas.

On the possibility of an outbreak of epidemic diseases, he saidthere has been no threat of cholera or any other epidemic in the coastal areas so far. "We are making all efforts to guard against any possible outbreak of epidemics," he added.

Source: Xinhua