United Nations Radio

The UN disaster relief organization (OCHA), has described the tsunamis in southern Asia as "an unprecedented catastrophe".

Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva,Yvette Stevens, says a disaster on such a scale has not been seen before.

"It has affected a wide and highly populated region.  Usually, we are used to dealing with these emergencies in a single country at a time, but we are faced this time with emergencies in at least six countries of a significant proportion."

Ms. Stevens says there are smaller scale effects on other countries in the South Asia area.