The death toll in the country from the killer tsunami waves of Sunday crossed 7,000 with 3,000 casualties reported from the Andaman & Nicobar islands alone.
Briefing the media after a meeting of the Union Cabinet, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that some 6,000 residents of Car Nicobar were feared dead.
The islands were hit by another tremor measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale early this morning. The Centre has released Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) of immediate relief assistance to the affected states.
In the entire South Asian region affected by the tsunami waves, the number is estimated to have crossed 27,000. Maximum casualties have been reported from the island nation of Sri Lanka.
While the government was still trying to assess the impact of the calamity, Chidambaram, said that it would leave no "great fiscal impact". The first estimate of the damage was provided by Assocham, which said that it could be in excess of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
While there was talk of a cess being planned by the government to meet the rehabilitation expenses, D Swarup, expenditure secretary in the ministry of finance, told newspersons there was no proposal at the moment.
On its part, the central government as well as the states launched a massive relief operation engaging the armed forces to reach food, blankets and medicine to people in the affected areas.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a relief of Rs 100,000 to the next of kin of each person killed from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. Interestingly, India has declined any foreign help to deal with the situation.
Among global concerns that the tsunami waves had wiped out tourism in the region by flattening a number of holiday resorts, the government admitted that tourism would be impacted in the short run, though there were no reports of big tourist destinations being hit in the country.
Meanwhile, senior Cabinet ministers fanned out into the affected regions to oversee relief work being carried out. After despatching Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran to the southern states, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced he would travel to Pondicherry, Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu and Kerala to take stock of the situation. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has reached Port Blair to oversee relief operations.
To deal with such a situation better in the future, the government decided to install sea floor pressure recording system in the Indian Ocean, which will send warnings in the event of a tsunami build-up.
The government has also decided to join a network of 26 countries that warn each other of any changes in the sea pressure and possibility of the onset of high tidal waves related to earthquake in the waters.
