Thousands of miles from the devastated shores of Asia, the governments of Nordic Europe were under fire yesterday for failing to react to the greatest natural catastrophe to befall their people for generations.

The small nations of northern Europe were proportionately the hardest hit by the tsunami. With thousands of Swedes, Norwegians, Danes and Finns feared dead in the tidal wave, New Year’s Eve celebrations were muted across the region, and yesterday flags flew at half mast in memory of the victims.

Large numbers of affluent Scandinavians traditionally flee the winter sun at Christmas and flock to the south seas. The Swedish government estimates that more than 20,000 of its nationals were in Thailand when the tidal wave struck. In addition to the 60 confirmed dead, 3,559 — more than died in 9/11 — were still missing last night.

In neighbouring Denmark, with seven Danes confirmed dead and 397 reported missing, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the prime minister, warned that hopes for finding the missing alive were fading.

“I am seriously afraid that the others could also have lost their lives,” he said during his annual new year addressi.

During the 10-minute speech Rasmussen urged Danes to help one another by raising money for relief efforts in southern Asia or providing a shoulder to lean on for those who lost friends and family.

The Swedish prime minister Goran Persson echoed the sentiment. “It’s never felt so hard to welcome a new year,” he said. “Our big task is now to share a difficult time with each other. To support each other through despair, sorrow and loss.

“A horrible time lies ahead. Soon we will face the next incredibly painful period when those who are no longer alive return home.”

But the Swedish government was already facing criticism for misjudging the magnitude of the disaster and failing to help stranded citizens. Laila Freivalds, the foreign minister, was particularly scorned for going to the opera on Sunday night and not turning up for work until 31 hours after the earthquake.

“It was an opera that was one-and-a-half hours long,” she explained later. “It had been booked a long time in advance and I conferred with colleagues if I could go. I was reachable. I had my mobile on.”

But nobody called her, and no flights were dispatched to Asia. Swedish holidaymakers trickling back to Stockholm spoke with fury about being left bereft while tourists from other nations were being lavishly attended to by their officials. Swedes had to fend for themselves, they said.

Freivalds, initially adamant that she had acted competently, was later forced to admit that her ministry had failed to swing into action because it had misjudged the scale of the disaster. One of the first organisations to contact the foreign ministry on Sunday was Fonus, an undertaker’s firm, offering to donate coffins.

The disaster has also exposed the collapse of Sweden’s disaster response system. In the 1980s the country’s military had exemplary resources to deal with a catastrophe of this kind. They included Hercules hospital planes ready to take off at a moment’s notice, with the capability to operate on 80 people a day. After decades of defence cutbacks these resources have been severely curtailed. The result has been hesitation and chaos.

Fredrik Reinfeldt, the opposition leader seen by political analysts as Sweden’s next prime minister if his centre-right alliance beats Persson’s centre-left Social Democrats in the next election, was initially scathing in his criticism of the government. Yesterday he called a truce, but the media kept up their attack on the government’s response.

“It should be clear that the prime minister’s speech about ‘national unity’ does not only give Sweden something that it needs, but is also a power strategy aimed at making the criticism more cautious and the mistakes less exposed,” wrote the daily Svenska Dagbladet.

Elections are not due until September 2006 but some commentators say voters will not forget the government’s handling of what Persson himself has dubbed the worst catastrophe to hit Sweden in modern times.

Norway’s prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, also under criticism for his government’s response, said more than 1,000 Norwegians may have died.

“Norwegians who were happy to be on sunny holidays have died,” he said in a televised speech. “We are a people in mourning. More than we can comprehend have lost their lives.”

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