Stephen Fitzpatrick and Patrick Walters – The first shocking images of Sumatra's devastated west coast emerged yesterday, leading authorities to dramatically increase the estimated toll from Sunday's disaster and increasing the pressure on Australia to take a leading role in the reconstruction of tsunami-hit Indonesia.
Troops arriving in Meulaboh in Aceh province reported 10,000 bodies lying in the streets of the city, population 100,000, which was 80 per cent destroyed by the quake and resulting tsunami.
A reconnaissance flight covering about 160km of the Sumatran coast between Banda Aceh and Meulaboh revealed no signs of life, all main structures destroyed and sea water about 2km inland.
Vice-President Yusuf Kalla said 30,000 to 40,000 were estimated to have died in Aceh, making Indonesia by far the worst affected of the 10 nations hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami. The international death toll passed 60,000 yesterday as thousands more bodies were recovered from the beaches, mud and rubble of Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
But with great tracts of northern Sumatra still under surging ocean and no word from many isolated communities, officials warned the toll would jump – to perhaps as high as 100,000 – when contact was finally made with the area emerging as the quake's ground zero.
The US has sent the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and five other ships to the region to help relief efforts, and added $US20 million to its initial $US15 million aid funding.
Last night, the Howard Government was also considering sending a helicopter-equipped navy vessel to Indonesia to boost relief efforts.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer increased the nation's immediate aid commitment to $35million, including $10 million earmarked for Aceh, but warned that Australia would eventually commit "considerably more than that, particularly helping the rehabilitation of some of these communities that have been utterly devastated".
"I think it's going to be a very expensive exercise for Australia, but it's also the fact of life that we have very great responsibilities," he said.
It is understood that senior Australian government officials are already contemplating the prospect of a substantial Australian contribution to the multi-billion-dollar reconstruction of northern Sumatra once the immediate humanitarian needs have been met.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned late yesterday that the toll around the Indian Ocean rim would be "thousands, thousands if not tens of thousands, more than the figure that is generally being used now", but Jakarta Red Cross spokesman Phil Charlesworth predicted that Aceh, on the northwest tip of Indonesia's largest island, could by itself deliver the kind of figures Mr Annan expected.
"There's a population on the northwest side of Sumatra of 100,000, and most of those are unaccounted for," Mr Charlesworth said.
An exhausted Indonesian policeman who arrived in Meulaboh yesterday reported only a few hundred survivors in the coastal town of Calang which, until Sunday's monumental quake, had been a 6000-strong fishing community.
Department of Social Affairs spokesman Amrun Daulay said three ships with medicine and food were due to arrive at Meulaboh harbour last night.
Islands off the northwest Sumatran coast such as Simeulue, population 130,000, and smaller nearby islands, also took the brunt of the magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing walls of water. "No one's heard anything," Mr Charlesworth said.
"A brief statement from Indonesia's disaster and refugees co-ordinating body late yesterday described Meulaboh as 'razed' and Simeulue as 'sunk'."
To the southeast of Simeulue, the surfing mecca of Nias Island, population 500,000, was also hard hit "and the situation there is not good", Mr Charlesworth said.
While the UN has devoted extra teams to most of the stricken zones around the Indian Ocean basin, spokesman Oliver Hall said it was the isolated nature of the northwest Sumatran coast and outlying islands that pointed to a greatly increased death toll there over coming days.
"The reason why the west coast of Sumatra was so badly hit was the fact it suffered first the earthquake, then the tsunami. It virtually had no chance," Mr Hall said. A massive toll from disease is also likely as emergency services crumble under the pressure.
Another key place where accurate figures may not be known for days and where resistance to international aid efforts may prove deadly is Burma. The historically closed Government has been extremely guarded with releasing information.
A figure of 60 dead has been reported but it is expected the coming days will reveal a much clearer – and far grimmer – picture.