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December 28, 2004 --  Because of Sunday's gargantuan quake, planet Earth is ringing like a church bell.

You can't hear it, but it's being measured at seismic stations around the world, including Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y.

It will last for three days, perhaps longer.

The quake, which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, was caused by the shifting of geological plates along a 600-mile area.

This changed the Earth's mass.

As the mass returns to normal, it moves back and forth, much like a church bell when struck by a tong, said Stony Brook geophysicist Teng-fong Wong.

The phenomenon was observed after the 9.5-magnitude quake in Chile in 1960 and the 9.2 magnitude temblor in Alaska in 1964.

After both quakes, the ringing lasted for three days, getting smaller every day.

The ringing now should last about that long and there's no need to worry.

Scientists say it's harmless. "Everything will calm down. We don't have any reason to be scared," said Constantin Cranganu, a geophysics prof at Brooklyn College.

Of far greater concern is the strong possibility of aftershocks as the geological plates adjust.

These could measure 6.0 to 7.0 on the Richter scale, the size of many earthquakes, and so could cause additional damage, said Lamont-Doherty seismologist Art Lerner-Lam.

He said, however, that it's unlikely the tremors will trigger the tsunamis, or killer waves, that caused most of the death and destruction in Sunday's quake.

Lerner-Lam said the aftershocks could last for months, although their size and frequency will die down.

The quake caused a shift in the Earth's rotation, as the change in the planet's mass altered the effect of the pull of gravity on the Earth.

But not to worry. The same thing happens in the summer and winter. It's harmless and it shouldn't last long.

A tsunami last crossed the Indian Ocean in 1509. Scientists had not expected anything close to the quake and killer waves that struck Sunday because 90 percent of tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean, where there are warning systems.

By Tomi Soetjipto and Dean Yates

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - The death toll in the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster soared above 120,000 on Thursday as millions scrambled for food and fresh water and thousands more fled in panic to high ground on rumors of new waves.

Aid agencies warned many more, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka, could die in epidemics if shattered communications and transport hampered what may prove history's biggest relief operation.

Rescue workers pressed on into isolated villages shattered by a disaster that could yet eclipse a cyclone that struck Bangladesh in 1991, killing 138,000 people.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called for an emergency meeting of the Group of Eight so that the rich nations club could discuss aid and possible debt reduction following "the worst cataclysm of the modern era."

The total toll had shot up more than 50 percent in a day with still no clear picture of conditions in some isolated islands and villages around India and Indonesia.

While villagers and fishermen suffered devastation, losses among foreign tourists, essential to local economies, mounted.

Prime Minister Goran Persson said more than 1,000 Swedes may have been killed in the disaster.

Indonesian Health Ministry sources told Reuters just under 80,000 had died in the northern Aceh province that was close to the undersea quake, some 28,000 more than previously announced. Two sources said the toll would be officially announced soon.

THE FASTEST GET THE FOOD

The airport of the main city, Banda Aceh, was busy with aid flights, but residents said little was getting through to them. Hungry crowds jostling for aid biscuits besieged people delivering them in the town. Some drivers dared not stop.

"Some cars come by and throw food like that. The fastest get the food, the strong one wins. The elderly and the injured don't get anything. We feel like dogs," said Usman, 43.

Residents of the city fled their homes when two aftershocks revived fresh memories of the worst earthquake in 40 years.

"I was sleeping, but fled outside in panic. If I am going to die, I will die here. Just let it be," said Kaspian, 26.

Rumors, unfounded, of another tsunami swept to the seaboard of Sri Lanka and India, highlighting the continued tension across the stricken region four days after the quake.

The Indian government issued a precautionary alert for all areas hit by the weekend's killer wave.

Police sirens blared on beaches in Tamil Nadu, one of the worst hit states in a country that has lost 13,000, as thousands streamed inland on foot or crammed any vehicle they could find. "Waves are coming! Waves are coming," some shouted.

This time, however, the waves did not come.

There were similar scenes in Sri Lanka, where over 27,000 have been killed. Thousands fled inland from the eastern coast.

"This isn't just a situation of giving out food and water. Entire towns and villages need to be rebuilt from the ground up," said Rod Volway of CARE Canada, whose emergency team was one of the first into Aceh.

The world pledged $220 million in cash and sent a flotilla of ships and aircraft laden with supplies.

"As many as 5 million people are not able to access what they need for living," said David Nabarro, head of a World Health Organization (WHO) crisis team.

Many villages and resorts are now mud-covered rubble, blanketed with the stench of corpses after the 9.0 magnitude quake.

Thousands of bodies rotting in the tropical heat were tumbled into mass graves, but health officials said polluted water posed a much greater threat than corpses.

Holiday-makers were among those caught by surprise. Nearly 5,000 foreigners -- half from Sweden and Germany -- are missing, many in Thailand, where 710 foreigners have been confirmed dead.

AID CHAOS

Authorities warned of many deaths from dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever caused by contaminated food and water, and malaria and dengue fever carried by mosquitoes.

Indonesian aircraft dropped food to isolated areas in Aceh on northern Sumatra, an island the size of Florida -- areas that may not be reached by land for days.

In Sri Lanka's worst-hit area Ampara, residents ran things themselves, going around with loudhailers, asking people to donate pots and pans, buckets of fresh water and sarongs.

"Frustration will be growing in the days and the weeks ahead," said U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland.

The United Nations prepared what could be its largest appeal for donations to cope with its biggest relief effort.

The United States said a pledge of $35 million was just a start, and sent an aircraft carrier group toward Sumatra and other ships including a helicopter carrier to the Bay of Bengal.

Financial costs, estimated at up to $14 billion, are tiny relative to the human suffering. By comparison, Hurricane Andrew killed 50 people in 1992 but, with much of the damage in the United States, cost around $30 billion.

In the Thai resort turned graveyard of Khao Lak, the grim task of retrieving bodies was interrupted briefly when a tremor cleared the beach of people in a flash.

Dutch, German and Swiss forensic teams flew to Thailand to help identify now hard to recognize bodies by collecting dental evidence, DNA samples, fingerprints, photographs and X-rays.

Preserving bodies was an urgent need and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra promised to provide refrigerated containers.

In north Sri Lanka, survivors recovering corpses faced a new danger -- floating land mines from a long-running conflict.

Animals seem to have escaped the disaster, adding weight to notions they possess a "sixth sense" for disasters, experts said.