Schröder Expects Hundreds of Dead

"To date, 26 (dead) German citizens have been identified. About 1,000 German nationals are still missing," Schröder told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday.

"Bearing in mind the terrible destruction of the flood wave, we must fear a significant three-digit number of Germans will be among the dead," he said.

Schröder ordered public buildings in Germany to lower their flags to half mast.

Thai resort hit hard

German tour operators said at least 8,000 German vacationers were in southern Asia when the tsunami hit. Among them was former German chancellor Helmut Kohl, who was evacuated from the southern district of Galle, Sri Lanka. Kohl had been stranded at his guesthouse there since Sunday and was rescued by a military helicopter.

The German embassy in Thailand said the fate of 600 Germans was still unknown. A large number of Germans were staying on the Thai tourist resort island of Phuket, whose beaches were battered by the waves.

Further north of Phuket, staff at the Sofitel Magic Lagoon hotel in Khao Lak -- Thailand's worst affected area-- said some 260 guests and 100 employees are still missing. Seventy percent of guests staying at the French-owned hotel were Germans with others from France, Japan, Taiwan and Australia.

Jürgen Kosian, a German from Hamburg, was staying at the Sofitel with his family when the wave hit.

"My head was touching the ceiling and I had water right under my chin. I was panicked that I wouldn't be able to breathe," he told AFP after being evacuated to Bangkok.

"Everybody was crying or screaming in French, Swedish, German," he says adding, "The resort was 70 to 80 percent destroyed."

Kosian's daughter was one of the luckiest survivors after

escaping despite being wedged between her mattress and the ceiling of her room by the force of the tsunami.

"I look like a monster," said Kosian's wife Heidi, whose face and arms were covered with purple bruises. "We are so lucky. I don't want to come back to Thailand, I want to forget."

Germany increases aid

Schröder announced that Germany would make available €20 million ($27.25 million) in emergency aid, 10 times the figure it had announced on Tuesday.

The chancellor, who cut short his Christmas holiday to return to Berlin, also said he would propose a debt moratorium for Indonesia and Somalia among Paris Club members when they meet on Jan. 20.

"It is clear that this is a catastrophe of global proportions and can only be solved with close cooperation of the international community coordinated by the United Nations," Schröder said.

The government has also called on ordinary Germans to donate the money they would normally have spent on traditional New Year's Eve firecrackers to relief funds.