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Crow, Aguilera Among First Confirmed For NBC's Tsunami Relief Concert.

Asia Quakes' Tsunamis Kill Nearly 10,000

countries across thousands of miles, smashing seaside resorts and villages and leaving nearly 10,000 dead in their wake.

The death toll along the southern coast of Asia — and as far west as Somalia, on the African coast, where nine people were reported lost — was certain to increase, as authorities sorted out a far-flung disaster caused by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, strongest in 40 years and fifth-largest in a century.

The earthquake hit at 6:58 a.m.; the tsunami came as much as 2 1/2 hours later, without warning, on a morning of crystal blue skies. Sunbathers and snorkelers, cars and cottages, fishing boats and even a lighthouse were swept away.

Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India each reported thousands dead, and Thailand, a Western tourist hotspot, said hundreds were dead and thousands missing.

"It's an extraordinary calamity of such colossal proportions that the damage has been unprecedented," said Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa of India's Tamil Nadu, a southern state which reported 1,705 dead, many of them strewn along beaches, virtual open-air mortuaries.

"It all seems to have happened in the space of 20 minutes. A massive tidal wave of extreme ferocity ... smashed everything in sight to smithereens," she said.

At least three Americans were among the dead — two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, according to State Department spokesman Noel Clay. He said a number of other Americans were injured, but he had no details.

(LAUNCH Radio Networks) Sheryl Crow and pop star Christina Aguilera are the first artists confirmed to perform on a primetime fundraising telethon for tsunami relief on January 15th. The telethon, which will air on NBC and all of its sister cable channels, including Bravo, MSNBC, USA, and the Sci Fi Channel, was arranged by actor George Clooney, who continues to recruit celebrity talent for the telethon, according to Entertainment Weekly. Tim McGraw was initially expected to participate in the event, however according to his publicist, a scheduling conflict will prevent him from doing so.

Other celebs offering help to the tsunami victims include Willie Nelson. He has gathered such friends as Patty Griffin, Joe Ely, Alejandro Escovedo, and Bruce Robison to perform a similar benefit concert on Sunday (January 9) at Austin Music Hall in Austin, Texas. Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the American Red Cross, UNICEF, and Doctors Without Borders.

MTV is part of Viacom co.
LAUNCH is part of Yahoo co.
iTunes is part of Apple Computers.
AMG is part of AEC One Stop Group, Inc.

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