Indonesia has been battling disasters on two fronts as the death toll from the tsunami is predicted to exceed 500, and Mount Merapi keeps spewing lava and ash.
Disaster response officials believe the final death toll from the huge wave that hit the Mentawai island chain off the west coast of Sumatra Monday could pass 500, with many of the victims sucked out to sea as the tsunami receeded.
"Our staff have been waiting in Padang since Monday night to reach the remote area. They are now still in Padang," World Vision emergency response director Jimmy Nadapdap said.
Almost 13,000 people are living in makeshift camps on the islands after their homes were wiped out in the wave, which was triggered by a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
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Residents refusing to evacuate volcanic danger zone
Elsewhere in the disaster-prone archipelago, the nation's most active volcano, Mount Merapi, was spewing lava and ash, threatening residents who may have returned to their homes after an eruption on Tuesday killed 34 people.
"It shot heat clouds at 6:10 am as far as 3.5 kilometres (over two miles) down its southeastern slopes and followed this with ash rain," volcanologist Heru Suparwoko told AFP.
He said the heat clouds were "definitely dangerous" for people who had refused to obey orders to evacuate the danger zone on the island of Java or who had returned to tend to their livestock and property.
Some 50,000 people have fled to temporary shelters but officials expressed frustration that many were returned to their homes on the volcano's slopes during the day, despite the threat of another deadly eruption.
"It's very difficult to convince people here that the volcano's threat is serious," health ministry crisis centre head Mudjiharto told AFP.
Popular tourist attraction threatened
Volcanic ash that has fallen like heavy rain on a ninth century temple complex is threatening one of Indonesia's most popular tourist attractions,the famed Borobudur temples.
On the Mentawais, a picturesque destination for foreign surfers but an otherwise poor and neglected part of Indonesia, bodies were being found buried on beaches and even stuck in trees.
"When we flew over the area yesterday (Wednesday) we saw many bodies. Heads and legs were sticking out of the sand, some of them were in the trees," another disaster official Ade Edward said Thursday.
Millions of dollars given in aid
Indonesia initially refused offers of foreign aid but Australia on Thursday announced that Jakarta had accepted a million dollars worth of assistance for both disasters.
The United States and several Asian countries have also offered help.
The European Commission released 1.5 million euros (two million dollars) in aid and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations stood ready to assist in any way.
"Indonesia is currently addressing a multitude of emergencies, whose cumulative impact is putting local capacity under severe strain," European aid chief Kristalina Georgieva said.
The European money will help around 65,000 people in the Mentawais and another 22,000 affected by the volcano.
Weather conditions hamper aid efforts
Bad weather has hampered efforts to ferry aid such as tents, medicine, food and water to the islands by boat from the nearest port of Padang, which is more than half a day away even in the best conditions.
Indonesia has dispatched troops and at least five warships to the region but there is believed to be a need for more helicopters and boats to reach the most isolated communities, some of which lack roads and wireless communications.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the area Thursday, having cut short a visit to Vietnam to attend a regional summit, telling distraught survivors that aid was on its way.
