Aid workers say the death toll in Somalia, the east African nation worst hit by the tsunami, has risen to about 150 people from 110 last week.

But numbers are difficult to verify because Somalia lacks infrastructure after 13 years without national government.

The transitional government, yet to leave Nairobi because of insecurity at home, says more than 200 people were killed and many are still missing. "We don't know the exact number of the missing people, but I don't know for how long we can call them missing people. It's a question mark," presidential spokesman Yusuf Mohammed Ismail told Reuters.

Somalia was the western terminus of the wall of water that rampaged across the Indian Ocean after an earthquake on Dec. 26 off the coast of Indonesia.

The country has suffered years of hunger, drought, floods, lawlessness and domination by warring militias.

The wave struck during the high fishing season when the coastal population swells with fishermen, the UN said. Most of the dead were fisherman at sea when the wave struck.

The damage is concentrated in the northeastern Somali region of Puntland, which encompasses the tip of the Horn of Africa.

The water destroyed 1,180 homes, smashed 2,400 boats and rendered freshwater wells and reservoirs unusable, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report on Tuesday.

Aid agencies with small ground operations in Puntland have delivered food and relief supplies, mostly from existing stocks. A German Navy helicopter has also delivered supplies.

A larger effort is being planned by aid agencies and the transitional government, since Somalia presents the dual challenges of insecurity and a nearly non-existent road network.

This latest estimate of victims is higher than an assessment by the UN World Food Programme last week that said between 30,000 and 50,000 needed immediate aid.