Amid the struggle to keep aid flowing, and unlikely stories of survival, Thailand's chief forecaster has been fired for failing to issue a timely tsunami warning.

On Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the director general of his country's Meteorological Department knew about the undersea earthquake that triggered a deadly tsunami on Dec. 26, but failed to raise an alert.

"If he warned (of the tsunami), the death toll would definitely have been minimized," Thaksin said, announcing that Suparerk Thantiratanawong had been removed from his post as a result.

More than 5,000 have been confirmed dead in Thailand in the nine days since the killer waves struck the southwest coast.

Reporting from Patong Beach, CTV's Steve Chao learned that Khao Lak, a tourist area north of Phuket, has been quarantined for sanitary reasons -- the latest blow to a country asking many questions about the disaster.

In the hard hit fishing village of Baan Nam Khem, more than 2,000 people died -- that's half of the village's entire population.

Some of the survivors are angry that they were ignored by the thousands of troops and volunteers that rushed to help Thailand's bustling tourist areas, leaving them to clean up their community on their own.

It was only after local Thai reporters began telling of this forgotten fishing village that aid started to arrive.

"I'm angry because the government was too slow," said villager Vichet Keawpradub.

"So many people died here because no one came to help. The government should have come here first."

"It's been a controversy from the start here," said Chao, who recently toured Baan Nam Khem.

"Many people say that the Thai government has been focusing too much on helping families of missing members of foreign tourists."

He adds that many are also complaining of a disconnect in the way foreign international rescue teams were not allowed into Baan Naam Khem, instead being directed by the government to the local resorts.

There are also reports of stark contrasts in the way the bodies of foreign tourists are being treated, compared to those of Thai victims. While foreigners' bodies are being refrigerated, Thai bodies are left outside and subjected to the forces of nature.

On Indonesia's Sumatra island, where more than 94,000 are confirmed dead, relief efforts hit a snag Tuesday when the runway collision of a supply plane and a herd of cows temporarily closed a key airport.

None of the crew was injured when a Boeing 737 relief cargo plane hit cows after it landed at the Banda Aceh airport. But the accident did close a vital link to water, food and medical help.

The airport has now reopened, according to the website of the British Broadcasting Corp. The BBC said engineers managed to lift the plane using an airbag in a process that took about 15 hours.

Helicopters had continued flying into the airport, located in the hard-hit Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

Also struggling to recover are Sri Lanka and India but the giant tidal wave killed people as far away as East Africa.

Survivor found

Despite the scale of the disaster, a second person has been found alive, afloat on the open sea.

Rizal Sapura, 23, who was swept offshore by last week's tsunami was found Monday evening, clinging to floating tree branches and debris.

He was discovered by the crew of a Malaysian cargo ship, about 160 kilometres off the coast of Aceh province.

"It was certainly a miraculous survival," K-Line Maritime Malaysia shipping company spokesperson Adrian Arukiasamy said, explaining that Rizal had subsisted mainly on rainwater.

Meanwhile, leaders from stricken nations and a host of donor countries are gearing up for meetings in the Indonesian capital on Thursday, where they plan to discuss tsunami warning systems as well as coordinate the $2-billion global relief operation. Among those who will attend are U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

On Monday, Annan warned that much of the aid may not reach victims.

"If we go by past history, yes, I do have concern ... we've got over $2 billion but it is quite likely that at the end of the day we will not receive all of it," he told a news conference at the United Nations in New York.

The massive relief effort is just beginning in south Asia and Africa, where over 139,000 people have died. Officials expect that death toll to grow once aid workers fully assess the extent of the damage.

The UN says 1.8 million need food aid, and more than 5 million are homeless.

The World Health Organization says pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and skin infections have already emerged in Aceh. There have also been cases of gangrene among survivors with wounds exposed to polluted water. The WHO estimates that more than half a million people are in need of medical care in six nations.

In addition to the $2 billion in aid pledged by several governments, many private citizens have been donating to the relief effort.

U.S. President George Bush on Monday announced that he had appointed former presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush to head up a private fundraising effort.

In Canada, Prime Minister Paul Martin has pledged $80 million in aid relief, and has agreed to sent the military's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART). It will begin heading to Sri Lanka on Thursday.

With files from CTV's Steve Chao and The Associated Press