INDONESIA: Indonesian vice-president Jusuf Kalla said yesterday the death toll from the tsunami that swept across the Indian ocean region could hit 10,000 in one area of his country alone.
That would more than double the death count for all Indonesia of 4,912 given earlier yesterday by a government minister.
Mr Kalla's comments came after a visit to this provincial capital where, during the day, rescue workers pulled hundreds of bodies from treetops, rivers and wrecked homes, trying to clean up before disease could spread.
Speaking in the northern Sumatran city of Medan, Mr Kalla said: "In Banda Aceh, the deaths (could be) between 5,000 to 10,000".
It was unclear whether Mr Kalla, who said he had attended a mass burial of 1,500 bodies in the afternoon, was referring only to Banda Aceh proper, or the surrounding area.
The health ministry had earlier estimated deaths in Banda Aceh at 3,000.
More than 24 hours after waves crushed houses and swept through downtown streets of the sprawling, low-lying city, troops were still unloading piles of bodies from military trucks as weeping and dazed survivors tried to identify victims.
At a market on Banda Aceh's outskirts, hundreds of swollen bodies were covered with bright orange plastic sheets.
"I'm tired. I'm looking for my father. Please help me," wailed Maimori (22). She said her father was a fishmonger and last spoke to her on Sunday before going to the market.
As night fell, dozens of bodies were still scattered on streets and masses of debris - mud, ruined trucks and cars, mangled motorcycles and wood from shattered houses - deposited when the tsunami swept as far as eight kilometres (five miles) inland had yet to be cleared.
Banda Aceh was virtually blacked out after dusk as the power supply had been cut. Few people ventured on to the streets, and a stench of death hung over the city.
Some activity could be seen at the main mosque, where Acehnese from outside town came to ask residents about missing relatives. Many people remained unaccounted for.
"I was outside my house, people were screaming 'big waves, big waves'," said Nazarudin (40) as he lay on the floor of a hospital hall, his foot mangled and his face cut.
"I managed to hold onto a tree. But my wife is gone. She is missing."
The wall of water up to 10 metres (33 ft) high that followed a massive earthquake off the Indonesian coast killed more than 23,000 people across Asia.
Many in Aceh drowned in waters churning with huge rocks, logs and the remnants of homes uprooted by the waves that slammed into the northern tip of Sumatra island on Sunday.
A wooden ship over 50 metres long (165 feet) sat on a street near the seafront where the raging waters had left it.
The United Nations said it had offered to send disaster response teams into restive Aceh, currently off-limits to foreign aid workers because of a long-running insurgency.
A government official said Aceh would be open to aid workers from Wednesday.
In Jakarta, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it had set up a special working group to co-ordinate international aid.
Thousands huddled in mosques, tents and larger buildings as the consequences of the 9.0 magnitude quake unfolded.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono arrived in the Aceh town of Lhokseumawe late yesterday. Indonesian media said he prayed with refugees and told them they would get help soon.
The national news agency Antara said the president would fly to Banda Aceh in the morning.
In that city some minor looting of TVs and handphones was seen yesterday at abandoned shops, with no interference from police. Fuel and clean water were in short supply.
The United Nations has warned of epidemics within days across Asia if health systems could not cope, saying the effects of disease could be as bad as the tsunami itself.
Aceh, which lies some 1,700 km (1,000 miles) northwest of Jakarta, is under civilian emergency rule as part of efforts to quell the separatist insurgency.
Leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) declared a unilateral ceasefire with government forces on Monday, according to the group's so-called prime minister, Mr Malik Mahmud, who lives in exile in Sweden.
Mr Mahmud's statement said the order came because the disaster had displaced some 50,000 people, and GAM did not want to add to the panic and confusion.
GAM has been fighting for independence for the oil and gas-rich north-western province since 1976. - (Reuters)