50,000 Indonesian bodies still missing

Peter Dejong, Banda Aceh

Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab said 58,281 bodies had been buried in the shattered region on the northern tip of Sumatra island and some 50,000 are "scattered" around the region.

Some corpses are still trapped in collapsed buildings and rotting under debris in canals and rivers. Their stench still hangs over areas of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. Many of the dead have been interred in mass graves and workers are busy at the main burial site in Banda Aceh, layering dirt and bodies on top of each another.

Mr Shihab said the government was speeding its effort to collect and bury the corpses, putting workers on two shifts. He said the government was building 24 camps around the province to house those now staying in tent cities. Wooden barrack-style buildings will replace the tents and the new camps will meet UN standards for water and sanitation, he said. Officials hope to complete the first of the camps in two to three weeks, Mr Shihab said. He said 392,000 people in Aceh had been made homeless by the disaster, although the government has previously put that figure at 500,000. He said no one was starving or unable to get medical care in Banda Aceh but fuel shortages were still slowing deliveries to rural areas.

The government puts Indonesia's death toll at 104,055, and Shihab said that was in line with UN estimates of between 80,000 and 130,000 dead.

Meanwhile, schools reopened in Indonesia and Sri Lanka for the first time since the December 26 tsunami, but with so many children among the more than 150,000 victims, the scene was far from normal.

The latest events come amid heightened security concerns in several tsunami-hit areas with ethnic rebellions particularly Aceh, where rebels have waged a separatist war in the province for nearly three decades. United Nations staff in Aceh are on high alert, and armed guards patrol their compounds amid fears of rebel attacks.

In Washington, President George W Bush said the US "is committed today and we will be committed tomorrow" to tsunami victims, but he did not commit to any specific increase in the US aid pledge of $350m.

"We'll see," Mr Bush said after briefing on the destruction from Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"The dollars are demand driven." Nations around the world have so far pledged over $4 billion.

US Marines came ashore at the devastated Indonesian fishing town of Meulaboh, riding a hi-tech hovercraft that carried tons of food, water and a forklift. Only about 10 Marines landed, due to concerns by the Indonesian government about security and that the troops would be too much for the local infrastructure to handle. Nearly 2,000 marines are afloat off the Meulaboh coastline in two amphibious assault ships diverted from duty in Iraq. The ships carry two dozen helicopters, heavy equipment such as bulldozers and forklifts, and tons of food.

Aftershocks from the massive Indian Ocean earthquake that spawned the killer waves, claiming more than 150,000 lives, continued to rattle survivors in the hardest-hit countries. A 6.2-magnitude temblor sent people scrambling from their homes early yesterday in Banda Aceh. No injuries or damage were reported.

UNICEF confirmed two cases of measles in Indonesia, raising fears that the highly contagious and potentially deadly viral infection could take hold on devastated Sumatra island.

In Phang Nga, Thailand, veterinarians armed with tranquiliser guns has been hunting stray dogs that are feeding on corpses.