BOSTON -- With more than 60,000 people killed by the deadly Tsunami in southern Asia and the number expected to climb, the shock waves are being felt in New England as local families learn of deadly losses.

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Gail Huff Reports On Sri Lankan Family SRI LANKAN DONATIONS Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund - Sri Lanka Bank of America Account No. 9511324921 or Boston Thamil Association 1344 Eastern Ave. Malden, MA 02148 INDIAN DONATIONS Aid India.org Aid Boston.org

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that the Thesdana Kalikudey family, originally from Sri Lanka, learned that two nieces, ages 1 and 7, and a set of grandparents, were killed when the deadly waves hit their homeland.

"Last night, all night, I was ... seeing these children ... " Kalikudey said, breaking down in tears at his home in New Hampshire.

Kalikudey's sister tried to save the children from a series of tidal waves that slammed into their Sri Lankan village. They escaped the first one by climbing on to a concrete platform, but the last wave, some 30 feet high, was too much.

Current estimates place losses in Sri Lanka at 21,715 killed and more than 1 million displaced by Sunday's calamitous 9.0-magnitude Indian Ocean earthquake near the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Locally, the Boston Thamil Association of New England, established more than 15 years ago to foster growth and development among the Sri Lankan community in New England, is a charitable, non-profit group that's raising funds to aid the homeland. Donations can be made at any Bank of America to account No. 9511324921.

In Sri Lanka, four planes arrived in the capital bringing a surgical hospital from Finland, a water purification plant from Germany, doctors and medicine from Japan and aid workers from Britain, the Red Cross said.

Donations for recovery efforts came in from all parts of the globe.

The governments of the United States, Australia and Japan pledged a combined $100 million while taxi drivers in Singapore put donation tins in their cars and volunteers in Thailand text-messaged acquaintances to give blood to the Red Cross.

Officials said the main threat to life now is communicable diseases associated with a lack of clean water and sanitation.

The United Nations has sent disaster assessment teams to the affected countries and relief organizations are distributing supplies. The global body is also starting to put together an appeal for international aid.