Sumatra and Aceh: More than 4,400 people died as the earthquake and tsunami struck Indonesia. Raging waters washed residents out to sea, tore children from their parents' arms and left corpses dangling in trees.
The Indonesian Health Ministry put the death toll at 4,422 across the province of Aceh and also North Sumatra on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Its toll did not include North Aceh district, which local Metro TV said had recorded about 710 dead.
In a statement, the Health Ministry said the worst affected area was Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, where 3,000 people had been killed.
It did not say whether the earthquake or tsunami caused the most damage.
"We have stopped recovering bodies and will begin again first thing in the morning," Lieut Col Belyuni, military chief for North Aceh district, told El Shinta radio. "It's possible the death toll will mount because many corpses are still caught up in trees."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared Aceh a national disaster zone and instructed cabinet ministers to speed aid to victims, the official Antara news agency reported.
Aceh is already under civilian emergency rule as part of efforts to quell a long-running insurgency in the province.
President Yudhoyono was expected to fly to Medan, capital of North Sumatra, this morning, officials said.
The US Geological Survey said the powerful earthquake, which also hit Sri Lanka, Thailand and southern India, had a magnitude of 8.9.
Grainy television pictures showed dazed villagers carrying their belongings walking past scenes of devastation in Aceh. Buses and cars were overturned on the side of roads, some vehicles partially submerged in water.
Many homes were also destroyed.
"The weather was fine with no clouds, there was no warning and suddenly the sea water just hit the city. In some parts the water was up to chest level," Bustami, a resident in the Aceh city of Lhokseumawe, said.
"People are panicking now. Some of us are walking by foot and others are on military trucks going to higher ground."
Sadli, an official at Lhokseumawe's Cut Meutia hospital, said many dead in the city were children under the age of 10.
"Maybe they were being carried by their parents but they fell over in the water and could not hold on to their children. All the dead children drowned," Sadli said.
Officials said hundreds of houses had been swept away by the force of five-metre waves across Aceh. On Nias island off North Sumatra province, directly south of Aceh, officials said 75 people had died. Nias is popular with foreign surfers, although officials said they had yet to hear reports of any foreigners being killed.
Residents reported the quake toppled homes inland in Aceh, knocked down power lines and damaged bridges. The airport in Banda Aceh was closed because of damage.
Marine Col Buyung Lelana, speaking from Kuala Langka village in northern Aceh, said some people including his own men were curious when they saw the waves and made the mistake of failing to flee in time.
"Tens of people saw the rising water and didn't run to high ground, moreover they kept watching it. Several of my personnel are even missing," Col Lelana said by telephone.
However, more than 200 prisoners escaped from a jail when the tsunami knocked down its walls, a police official said.
Ali Taruna Jaya, police chief in the Aceh town of Pidie, said a few prisoners among the 204 who fled had given themselves up.
The earthquake failed to disrupt production at Aceh's vital Arun liquefied natural gas plant or oil output from fields in Indonesia, OPEC's only Asian member, industry officials said.
An archipelago of 17,000 islands, Indonesia lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire where tectonic plate boundaries intersect and volcanoes regularly erupt. - (Reuters)