Officials in the eastern district of Ampara, 350 kilometres east of here by road, said rains had ceased and flood waters were receding Sunday, but they feared an outbreak of water-borne disease at overcrowded shelters.

"We urgently need to improve the sanitary condition. We need more toilets," chief civil administrator in Ampara, Herath Abeyweera, said by telephone.

Ampara was the worst hit in last week's tsunamis which devastated more than three quarters of the island's coastline. They suffered a double blow when rains Saturday dumped some 330 millimetres of water, triggering a new wave of refugees.

"Medical teams can get through to some of the camps today because water levels have gone down, but the roads are still very bad and it takes longer to get the supplies in," Abeyweera said.

Officials said more than 800,000 people were displaced by the tsunamis, with another 200,000 added to the list after flooding across the eastern regions Saturday.

President Chandrika Kuma-ratunga has said that the death toll would likely jump as most of the missing were presumed dead.

A week after the tragedy, forensic experts were struggling to identify 57 foreigners killed in the sea surge, according to A. F. Raymond undertakers.

"There are European medics taking DNA samples and copies of dental structures," Aubrey Raymond told AFP.

"Among the unidentified bodies are six children not more than five years old," he said. Over 100 foreigners died in the disaster.

Along the island's southern coast the situation was improving with better weather allowing supplies to get through, AFP photographers in the area said.

However, in the northern peninsula of Jaffna, the military reported confrontations with Tamil Tiger rebels in distributing relief.