Detective Chief Inspector Tony Harris, family liaison co-ordinator with Hampshire Police, based in Portsmouth, confirmed that a number of families in the county had been affected by the incident.

Mr Harris is in charge of Operation Apple, which co-ordinates information from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about the disaster - relaying it to the individuals concerned.

He confirmed that a number of British people had been on holiday in several of the countries affected and that some tourists had lost their lives.

However, he was not prepared to confirm a number or where they were from until full investigations had been carried out and news of any fatalities had been confirmed.

"People are facing tragic losses," he said.

One problem, he said was the sheer scale of the catastrophe, the full extent of which was still emerging, and the difficulty of identifying people.

"These countries have got thousands of people dead. How would we, in this country, cope with that? We'd struggle," he said.

"You don't take a driving licence and a passport with you to the beach. ID is a serious matter," he said.

Hampshire Constabulary is being assisted in dealing with distressed families by trained staff from Hampshire County Council.

International aid group, Oxfam, has already raised £600,000 to help the areas devastated by Sunday's tsunami in South East Asia.

On Wednesday, a flight left the UK carrying 27 tonnes of aid provided by the charity, destined for Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Oxfam hopes to send more supplies, with each flight costing around £100,000 in fuel and aid.

Jasmine Whitbread, the charity's international director, said: "The scale of this catastrophe requires the biggest international response effort ever seen."

To make a donation to Oxfam call 0870 333 2500 or visit www.oxfam.org.uk.