The strongest earthquake since 1964 has left an untold number dead.
Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Somalia, Burma, Maldives and Malaysia were hit with the tremors, aftershocks and the tsunami from the Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea. Countries along the Southern coast of Africa issued alerts and began evacuations.
The US Geological Survey says about 1000 kilometers of the Andaman thrust (faultline) broke which is unusual. Strong aftershocks in the 5- 7 magnitude range are going to continue for some time.

Initial reports
India says over 2300 were dead, over 22 hundred are dead on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, several hundred in the coastal and tourist areas of Thailand, and Sri Lanka — some 1,000 miles west of the epicenter — the death toll stood at 4,500, according to police and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lanka has been declared a disaster area. All members of the Thailand army have been mobilized, and as dawn will break in a few hours India, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh and residents in other countries affected will attempt to reach islands and regions that have not been heard from. Myanmar, Burma…
Well over a million people are homeless.

The 8.9 quake was 25 miles under the sea bed about about one thousand miles west of Jakarta.
Update: The USGS now says the quake was a 9.0.

The European Union, Australia, the International Rescue Corps, and relief agencies are moving quickly.
Lack of food and contaminated drinking water are key concerns for those who survived. The number of injured has not yet begun to be counted. There were reports of a tsunami reaching the western coast of Australia.

Blogs
Messy Christian, Jeff Ooi and Irene Q are in Malaysia.
Ooi (Screenshots) has a list of blogs that are updating and reporting.
The Acorn in India has an initial post. 2Bangkok in Thailand has a news feed going.
Update:The Digital Awakening in Malaysia is posting regularly. He lost friends in the tsunami.
As power is gradually restored, we’ll learn he will not have been the only blogger who has suffered great loss.

News outlets
As reports come in, the death toll keeps climbing.
The BBC has a timeline of the destructive force of the quake, as well as up to date reports from reporters and survivors who have access to power and communications.

Thailand english language news
Indonesia english language news
India english language news
Sri Lanka english language news
Malaysia english language news
Australia

A year ago
Residents of Bam Iran are still recovering from the December 26th quake last year. 80% of the city was destroyed, much of the promised aid never arrived, and many residents still live in camps and temporary shelter.

How you can help
Governments have set up hotlines for families and many countries are sending planes into affected areas to get their citizens out of the region. Hundreds of thousands of people in costal regions need medical help, housing, water and food.
Hygiene, transportation, social order, recovery of society, resettling and prevention will be massive undertakings for every country that has been hit.

World Vision; denominational international relief funds; (Catholic, Protestant, Othodox, Sikkh, Hindu, Muslim) Doctors without Borders; Canadian communities of former residents set up quick relief accounts, assess need and can get aid to their former countries quickly; The Salvation Army in the affected regions…can you think of other reliable agencies that will get help to people that need it so desperately?
The UN and Red Cross will also be assisting long term.

Personal note
It is so easy to be cynical of government and NGO’s burdened by red tape, incompetence and corruption, when it seems the road to hell is paved with good intentions. There are groups and caring people able to get aid on the ground to this ongoing disaster and cynicism is a sad excuse to turn ones gaze away.
There are groups able to work with corporations that can provide water, food, clothing, shelter and the longer term infrastructure rebuilders.
Many people who find it almost impossible to deal with the human toll may wish to donate to scientific agencies that work to provide better predicition and communication instruments.