BOSTON -- A Portsmouth, N.H., family was breathing a sigh of relief Tuesday after learning that their loved ones vacationing on the Thailand coast were safe.

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Ron Gollobin Reports On Family Resources: OxFam America Gallery: Images, Video From Tsunamis Info: Fact Sheet, Relief Agencies Interactives: Tsunami Map | Earthquakes

NewsCenter 5's Ron Gollobin reported that most of the news in south Asia keeps getting worse. On Wednesday, the death toll from last weekend's earthquake and tsunamis more than doubled to 52,000, a number expected rise.

Susan McClure and her two children were on a Thai beach while McClure's husband, Bill, was skin-diving when the tsunami hit.

"She basically said that they had run for their lives. They were at a beach front resort and they ran for their lives from a tidal wave," said Susan McClure's brother Andrew McClure.

At first Bill was declared missing, but then came the e-mail that brought sighs of relief.

"It was a very brief e-mail saying he had found Susan and they were OK," said Andrew McClure.

The New Hampshire family of four has moved further inland, but they are the lucky ones. Not so fortunate were nearly 19,000 people from the island nation of Sri Lanka, who were drowned, crushed or swept away by the waves.

Bevis Peries, president of the 400-strong Sri Lanka Association of New England, is trying to raise money to help his countrymen who were already poor, disadvantaged, and now in the midst of an overwhelming disaster. Peries said his sister still lives in Sri Lanka.

"Whole villages, whole towns have been wiped out, so when those totals come in, the figure today may be just nothing compared to what the final figures will be. They may never know the final figure," said Peries.

All of the money, food and clothing that is raised by the Sri Lanka Association of New England will be turned over to OxFam America, a Boston-based aid agency who lost staff, supplies and offices of their own in the tsunami.