Dear all,

Thank you so much for the offers of support that have been coming in.

There’s a whole area on the south west coast of Aceh, closest to the epicenter of the earthquake, where there’s been no contact at all. Officials are increasingly concerned about the situation there. It’s thought there were a million people living in that area. Relief supplies are beginning to arrive in the Sumatran city of Medan ready for transport into the affected area, and the Indonesian government has just decided that they will allow international aid agencies to operate in Aceh. The province has been virtually sealed off for the past eighteen months because of a conflict between Indonesian security forces and separatist rebels.

• Water purification tablets, and any other water purification tools
  
• Oral Rehydration salts (Oralit)
  
• Bleach, disinfectants, Carbol (disinfectant)
  
• Soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, talcum / calamine powder sanitary napkins
  
• First Aid medications, and over-the counter medicines for fever and diarrhea
  
• Non perishable food, vitamins (especially for infants & children), rice, instant noodles
  
• Buckets, and plastic water containers, garbage bags
  
• Sheets, towels, hammocks, mosquito nets and any other linens / bedding
  
• Any (if possible quick drying) clothing
  
• Cooking and eating utensils
  
• Mosquito repellant
  
• Tents & tarpaulins
  
• Writing utensils

Almost a million people made homeless by the disaster have taken refuge on higher ground and in mosques and tents. Efforts are being made to collect bodies and prevent diseases spreading. The huge waves, which killed thousands of people in Sri Lanka and India, were caused by a massive underwater earthquake off Aceh province. The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.0, making it the largest the world has seen for 40 years.

Military officials in Aceh warn the numbers of dead could rise dramatically once contact is established with more remote areas. “We have ordered 15,000 troops into the field to search for survivors,” military spokesman Edy Sulistiadi told the Associated Press news agency. “They are mostly retrieving corpses.”

Hopes of getting relief supplies to the disaster victims were lifted after Indonesian authorities said flights could soon resume at a major airport in Aceh, the BBC’s Jakarta correspondent, Rachel Harvey, reports.

Many of those killed in Indonesia are said to be children and the elderly, who were swept away by the surging tides. Witnesses say the retreating waters revealed many bodies hanging in the branches of trees. The search for survivors is likely to be hindered by the dense jungles that cover Aceh’s hills, where many are likely to have fled, our correspondent says.

While there are reports that the earthquake caused serious damage to buildings in the capital of Aceh, Banda Aceh, most of the deaths are believed to have been caused by flooding.

Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has declared three days of national mourning.

Fighting between Indonesian soldiers and separatist rebels in Aceh have made the north-western province a no-go zone for journalists and aid workers for the past year.