Development officials said Thursday the tsunami may leave 2 million people below the poverty line.

Officials fear the ultimate aftermath of the disaster could last for years, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warned in a report released yesterday.

The report said an initial assessment of the impact of the December 26 calamity showed that nearly 1 million people could be thrown into poverty in Indonesia, the worst-hit country.

The number of poor in India could rise by 645,000, while the figure was estimated at about 250,000 in Sri Lanka, it added.

In the Maldives, where about half the country's houses were affected, the ADB report said more than 50 per cent of the population 287,000- could fall below the poverty line.

"The poverty impact of the tsunami will be enormous," said Ifzal Ali, chief economist of the Manila-based ADB. "Poverty is potentially the most important effect of this natural disaster."

New security rules

New security restrictions in Indonesia were aimed only at ensuring the safety of foreigners, a government minister said on Thursday, aiming to allay fears that emergency operations could suffer.

Indonesia sparked concern this week when it said foreigners working in devastated Aceh province would need official approval and possible military escorts if they planned to work outside the two main cities of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh.

The United Nations has said it feared the restrictions could hinder international relief operations. Indonesian Information Minister Sofyan Djalil said the security measures should not be regarded "from a political point of view." "This is purely a matter of security, it's related to the fact that the situation on the ground is not normal," Djalil said. "We're simply trying to give maximum protection to the workers, and for that they need restrictions."

Asked if the new restrictions would hamper the aid effort, Djalil said: "I don't think so." Jakarta has long been edgy about a foreign presence in Aceh, where separatists have fought the army for three decades for a homeland on Sumatra island's northern tip. The region was devastated by the December 26 undersea earthquake and tsunami.

Of the 158,000 killed across Asia, more than 100,000 were in Aceh. On Wednesday, the government said all foreign troops should leave the country by the end of March. Australia, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany, China, Spain, Pakistan, Japan and Switzerland all have forces aiding the relief efforts in Aceh. But in Banda Aceh itself, the deputy governor of the province said he felt foreign forces should be welcome to stay as long as they were needed.

Source: China Daily