Pope John Paul II appealed to the international community to come to the aid of millions of people hit by an Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tidal waves that affected 11 countries.

"Let us ensure our solidarity for all those who suffer" and may "the international community do its best to bring relief to those hit" by the disasters, the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer Dec 26.

Tens of thousands of people died when a magnitude 9 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia Dec 26 triggered enormous tidal waves called tsunamis. The Associated Press reported more than 44,000 people were dead as of Dec 28, but the toll was expected to increase. Millions, primarily in South and Southeast Asia , were left homeless.

International aid agencies began what was considered to be an unprecedented disaster relief operation -- getting food, water, medicines and temporary shelter to millions of people spread out across 11 countries, as far away as Somalia and Seychelles , an island country off the East coast of Africa .

In Baltimore, Catholic Relief Services, the US bishops' international relief and development agency, committed an initial $500,000, primarily to help partner agencies in affected countries get emergency relief to survivors and to help avoid disease. A CRS statement said the agency's response was expected to climb into the millions as it helped the hardest-hit areas of India , Sri Lanka , Thailand and Indonesia .

Meanwhile, the Vatican 's charity arm, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum , sent an unspecified amount of emergency aid to parts of the affected areas.

In a Dec 28 statement, Cor Unum said Caritas Italy earmarked $4 million for disaster relief while Caritas Internationalis , the Vatican-based global confederation of Catholic social service and development organisations, already collected $2 million for relief operations.

In Thailand , Father Phibul Visitnonthachai, director of the Thai bishops' Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees, said his office would coordinate a massive assistance campaign that would focus on emergency relief for poor fishing people, as opposed to tourist resorts. Almost the entire length of Thailand 's south-western coastline was engulfed by waves, reported UCA News, an Asian Church news agency based in Thailand .

"That area is home to thousands of fishermen," Father Piergiacomo Urbani, a missionary, told Asianews, an Italian-based missionary news agency, Dec 27. "No one knows what has become of them."

Archbishop Michael Augustine of Pondicherry and Cuddalore , India , said scores of villages in his archdiocese experienced "near annihilation."

In a Dec 27 interview with Asianews, Archbishop Augustine said his priests were trying to help by going "into the remotest areas with medical and emergency relief materials."

"All parishes and convent schools have opened to provide shelter, clothes, food and drinking water. We have also set up temporary shelters in some villages," said the archbishop.

Many people had no warning of the incoming tsunamis. Fishermen at sea and villagers and tourists along the Indian Ocean's coastline were drowned by waves reaching up to 33 feet high and travelling at speeds of up to 310 miles per hour.

The apostolic nuncio to Indonesia , Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, told Vatican Radio that residents were still afraid of fresh tidal waves coming unannounced.

"People are trying to flee toward the mountains, and this is causing logistical problems. The roads are destroyed ... electricity and telephones don't work," he said in a Dec 27 interview.

Sri Lanka 's apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Mario Zenari, said the country's bishops were heading to the affected areas to help.

"Many people found their first refuges were the churches nearby or else Buddhist temples. This inter-religious cooperation is beautiful to see," he said.

Archbishop Zenari praised the outpouring of good will and relief funding from across the world.

"It's beautiful to see this wave of solidarity, not just a wave of destruction," he said.

(CNS)