Wednesday's 6.5 magnitude quake was the biggest disaster to hit the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, which killed more than 120,000 people in Aceh alone.

Traffic congestion around the epicenter in Aceh's Pidie Jaya regency slowed logistical and medical supplies sent by government agencies and NGOs.

"There are a lot of government trucks and private vehicles loaded with supplies ... but this is causing a lot of congestion and some logjam in the early response," said Paul Dillon of the International Organisation for Migration, a non-government organization.

Television images showed some patients being treated in makeshift tents in car parks because hospitals were full.

Indonesia's national disaster management agency put the death toll at 102 on Thursday, with more than 700 injured and thousands left homeless.

The agency said more than 1,000 personnel, including military officers and volunteers, had been deployed to help in search and rescue operations.

The search on Thursday was expected to focus on a collapsed marketplace, where at least five people were believed trapped under rubble.

Some of the victims included people attending a wedding party, The Jakarta Post reported.

"They planned to attend a wedding. They spent the night here," the newspaper quoted resident Muhammad Armi as saying.

Wednesday's quake hit the east coast of the province, about 170 km (105 miles) from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital. Aceh's Pidie Jaya regency, with a population of about 140,000, was worst hit.

Experts said the quake did more damage than expected because of poorly constructed buildings.

"Assessment of some of the initial information shows that single storey houses without reinforced internal brick or masonry walls have been damaged severely or collapsed," said Behzad Fatahi, a geological expert at the University of Technology in Sydney.

Aceh was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami centered on its western coast near Banda Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004. That tsunami killed 226,000 people along Indian Ocean shorelines.</s>MEUREUDU, Indonesia – Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia’s Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. But the small number of heavy excavators on the scene meant progress was slow. Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-meter radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble. The disaster agency said more than 750 people were injured.

“We have to move faster to search and rescue possible survivors,” said Iskander Ali, a Pidie Jaya official.

Those killed included very young children and the elderly. Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake but he was resigned to it as “God’s will.”

He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit. He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris. Another man said he found his 9-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbor’s house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses. Nugroho said more than 11,000 people have been displaced and are staying at shelters and mosques or with relatives. About 10,500 homes were damaged and dozens of mosques and shop houses collapsed.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude-9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Sulaiman, a Disaster Mitigation Agency official in Aceh, said staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed. He said medicines are sufficient because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

“What’s badly needed now are staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, salted fish and other foods,” said Sulaiman. He said people had complained about a lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled and electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

Nugroho, at a news conference in Jakarta, listed as urgent food and clothing, specialist doctors for victims suffering fractures, medical equipment, temporary shelters and heavy excavation equipment.

The Indonesian government sent 50 tons of urgent aid to Aceh, including 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

“Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift,” said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before there’s a fuller picture of how many people are displaced, he said.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is sending a medical team and medicines. The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts. Aid groups and others are also appealing for donations.

Pope Francis, who was speaking at St. Peter’s Square for a Catholic holiday, said he wanted people to know he was praying for the victims of the earthquake, their loved ones and those left homeless.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometers (11 miles). It did not generate a tsunami. Aftershocks have rattled the area.

The world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

Wright reported from Jakarta. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show that the name of the Aceh disaster mitigation agency official is Sulaiman instead of Iskander.</s>ATLANTA (AP) — Former congressional candidate Jon Ossoff says he will challenge Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue in 2020.

The Georgia Democrat tweeted Monday night that he has, "some big...</s>MEUREUDU, Indonesia: The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia on Wednesday has reached 97, the military said, as more bodies were pulled from the rubble of scores of shattered buildings.

The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake struck Pidie Jaya district in Aceh province at dawn as many in the mainly Muslim region on Sumatra island were preparing for morning prayers.

The death toll has steadily climbed as rescue crews search, often by hand, through the homes, mosques and shops reduced to ruins.

The earlier figure of 52 dead was revised up significantly by the Indonesian military, which has taken over responsibility for the search and rescue operation.

“So far 97 people have been killed and the number keeps growing,” Aceh military chief Tatang Sulaiman told Agence France-Presse. “When we retrieve bodies sometimes there’s five, sometimes 10 corpses.”

More than 1,000 soldiers and about 900 police have been deployed to the worst-hit areas to set up shelters and evacuation points, he added.

Hundreds of houses and shops had been leveled by the quake, leaving countless people homeless and in need of basic supplies like food and water, officials said.

“The electricity is still off. Some places have generators, but there are not many,” local disaster agency head Puteh Manaf told AFP. “If it rains there will be disease.”

‘Everything was destroyed’

 The sole hospital in Pidie Jaya was quickly overwhelmed, with patients treated on the grass out front or sent to neighboring districts with better facilities.

The district health office chief Said Abdullah said nearly 200 injured had arrived since the quake, but many would not enter the hospital for fear of aftershocks.

“We are treating people outside. We took the beds out because nobody is daring enter the hospital,” he told AFP.

Another regional hospital had suffered serious damage in the quake, along with schools and other key infrastructure, a national disaster agency spokesman said.

In the hard-hit town of Meureudu, terrified residents rushed outside as their homes buckled and crumbled.

“Everything was destroyed,” said Hasbi Jaya, who pulled his two children unconscious from the rubble of their home.

“It was pitch black because the electricity was out. I looked around and all my neighbors’ homes were completely flattened,” he added.

An AFP correspondent said dazed residents were wandering debris-strewn streets, unable to return to their damaged homes in fear of aftershocks.

Some fled to higher ground for fear of a tsunami although no alert was issued.

A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed parts of Aceh and other countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone.

Indonesian seismologists said the latest earthquake was felt across much of Aceh province, with many aftershocks following the initial tremor.

The US Geological Survey upgraded the magnitude to 6.5 from an initial reading of 6.4 and issued a yellow alert for expected fatalities and damage.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates collide.

Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.

A huge undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed parts of Aceh.

The tsunami killed more than 170,000 people in Indonesia and tens of thousands more in other countries around the Indian Ocean.</s>MEUREUDU, Indonesia — Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia's Aceh province today as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. But the small number of heavy excavators on the scene meant progress was slow. Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-meter (yard) radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble. The disaster agency said more than 750 people were injured.

"We have to move faster to search and rescue possible survivors," said Iskander Ali, a Pidie Jaya official.

Those killed included very young children and the elderly. Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake but he was resigned to it as "God's will."

He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit. He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris. Another man said he found his 9-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbor's house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses. Nugroho said more than 11,000 people have been displaced and are staying at shelters and mosques or with relatives. About 10,500 homes were damaged and dozens of mosques and shop houses collapsed.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude-9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Sulaiman, a Disaster Mitigation Agency official in Aceh, said staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed. He said medicines are sufficient because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

"What's badly needed now are staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, salted fish and other foods," said Sulaiman. He said people had complained about a lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled and electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

Nugroho, at a news conference in Jakarta, listed as urgent food and clothing, specialist doctors for victims suffering fractures, medical equipment, temporary shelters and heavy excavation equipment.

The Indonesian government sent 50 tons of urgent aid to Aceh, including 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

"Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift," said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before there's a fuller picture of how many people are displaced, he said.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is sending a medical team and medicines. The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts. Aid groups and others are also appealing for donations.

Pope Francis, who was speaking at St. Peter's Square for a Catholic holiday, said he wanted people to know he was praying for the victims of the earthquake, their loved ones and those left homeless.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometers (11 miles). It did not generate a tsunami. Aftershocks have rattled the area.

The world's largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

Wright reported from Jakarta. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show that the name of the Aceh disaster mitigation agency official is Sulaiman instead of Iskander.</s>Acehnese men walk amid the rubble as they survey the damage at an Islamic boarding school badly hit by Wednesday's earthquake in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, Indonesia, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016.

MEUREUDU, Indonesia — Humanitarian organizations descended on Indonesia's Aceh province Thursday as the local disaster agency called for urgent food supplies and officials raced to assess the full extent of damage from an earthquake that killed more than 100 people.

Volunteers and nearly 1,500 rescue personnel concentrated their search on the hard-hit town of Meureudu in Pidie Jaya district near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.5 quake that hit before dawn Wednesday. But the small number of heavy excavators on the scene meant progress was slow. Humanitarian assessment teams fanned out to other areas of the district.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said the death toll had risen to 102 and warned it could increase. Search teams were using devices that detect mobile phone signals within a 100-meter (yard) radius to help guide their efforts as they scoured the rubble. The disaster agency said more than 750 people were injured.

"We have to move faster to search and rescue possible survivors," said Iskander Ali, a Pidie Jaya official.

Those killed included very young children and the elderly. Mohammad Jafar, 60, said his daughter, granddaughter and grandson died in the quake but he was resigned to it as "God's will."

He was getting ready for morning prayers when the earthquake hit. He said he and his wife managed to push their way out through the debris. Another man said he found his 9-year-old daughter alive beneath a broken wall at his neighbor's house.

Thousands of people are homeless or afraid to return to their houses. Nugroho said more than 11,000 people have been displaced and are staying at shelters and mosques or with relatives. About 10,500 homes were damaged and dozens of mosques and shop houses collapsed.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake that struck off Sumatra. The magnitude-9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Sulaiman, a Disaster Mitigation Agency official in Aceh, said staple foods for women and babies are most urgently needed. He said medicines are sufficient because assistance is coming from the army, police, state-run companies and local governments.

"What's badly needed now are staple foods such as rice, cooking oil, salted fish and other foods," said Sulaiman. He said people had complained about a lack of clean water, but the problem has been tackled and electricity supply is returning to normal in many areas.

Nugroho, at a news conference in Jakarta, listed as urgent food and clothing, specialist doctors for victims suffering fractures, medical equipment, temporary shelters and heavy excavation equipment.

The Indonesian government sent 50 tons of urgent aid to Aceh, including 10 generators, tents, folding beds, baby supplies and body bags.

"Every aid and civil society organization is piling into the area with as many boxes of rice, instant noodles, blankets and other aid as they can shift," said Paul Dillon, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, which has an assessment team in northern Aceh.

It will take at least two more days before there's a fuller picture of how many people are displaced, he said.

The military is setting up an emergency field hospital and sending two dozen doctors, and the Health Ministry is sending a medical team and medicines. The Red Cross sent aid such as water trucks on Wednesday and humanitarian group CARE is leading an assessment team of four international aid groups to avoid duplication of efforts. Aid groups and others are also appealing for donations.

Pope Francis, who was speaking at St. Peter's Square for a Catholic holiday, said he wanted people to know he was praying for the victims of the earthquake, their loved ones and those left homeless.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was centered about 19 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17 kilometers (11 miles). It did not generate a tsunami. Aftershocks have rattled the area.

The world's largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Aceh.

Wright reported from Jakarta. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.</s>Aftershocks rattled the survivors of a devastating Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 100 people, and officials urgently appealed Thursday for medicine and doctors to treat the hundreds injured.

The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake leveled hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses across Aceh province, one of the areas worst affected by the devastating 2004 tsunami.

Search and rescue crews using advanced life-detecting devices have been combing the rubble for any sign of movement, as hopes fade of finding any more survivors more than a day after the quake.

“These scan through the rubble to see if anyone’s alive or dead,” said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

The death toll stands at 102 but is expected to rise, he added. The figure has fluctuated as authorities identify the dead across the region.

Thousands of soldiers and emergency personnel have been using excavators to clear rubble in the worst-hit areas, with volunteers — equipped with little more than hoes and their bare hands — also chipping in.

President Joko Widodo asked all Indonesians to pray for their countrymen in the disaster-stricken province.

“Aceh is not alone,” he posted on his official Twitter account.

But attention is shifting to caring for those injured and homeless.

The army has established kitchens, shelters and a field hospital in the hard-hit town of Meureudu, Aceh, said military chief Tatang Sulaiman.

“Our priority today is to re-check all the buildings to ensure no more victims are trapped, and to help the refugees,” he said.

Medical supplies and other essentials are lacking, officials said, with the region’s ill-equipped hospitals overwhelmed.

More than 700 people were injured in the quake, many seriously, according to the disaster agency.

Said Mulyadi, the deputy chief of the worst-hit Pidie Jaya district, said they were in desperate need of medicine and extra hands to treat the injured.

“We need surgeons and orthopaedics, because many victims have fractures,” he said.

Most victims spent the night outdoors, either unable to return to their homes or terrified of the aftershocks rattling the region, he added.

Aid has begun trickling into the region, with emergency shelters erected to house those left with nowhere to go.

But more was needed for the 4,000 people evacuated to shelters, said local disaster agency chief Puteh Manaf.

“They really need food, clean water, medication and blankets,” he said.

Many fled for higher ground when the quake struck, fearing a tsunami, though no alert was issued.

A huge undersea earthquake in 2004 triggered a tsunami that engulfed several countries around the Indian Ocean, killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia alone, the vast majority in Aceh.

Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where tectonic plates collide.

Aceh lies on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which is particularly prone to quakes.

In June a 6.5-magnitude quake struck off the west of Sumatra, damaging scores of buildings and injuring eight people.</s>Rescue workers, soldiers and police are combing the rubble of a devastated town in Indonesia’s Aceh province, resuming a search for earthquake survivors that was halted at night by rain and blackouts.

More than 100 people died in the shallow and powerful quake that struck north-east Sumatra before dawn on Wednesday.

Hundreds more were injured and dozens of buildings were destroyed. The worst damage appears to be in Pidie Jaya district near the epicentre.

Scores of rescue personnel are crawling over a market in the town of Meureudu, where many shops and houses collapsed. Some people spent the night outdoors while thousands took refuge in mosques and temporary shelters.

Many were left homeless after the magnitude 6.5 quake destroyed or damaged their homes and others were too scared to return home.

Hajj Yusri Abdullah, owner of a shop in Meureudu, said nearly two dozen bodies were pulled from the market debris on Wednesday, including a group of eight made up of a newlywed couple and family members holding an celebration known as Antar Dara Baro.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said the death toll had risen to 102, spread across three districts in northern Aceh, and the number “probably will increase”.

Killer quakes occur regularly in the region, where many live with the terrifying memory of a giant earthquake that struck off Sumatra on December 26th, 2004. The magnitude 9.1 quake triggered a devastating tsunami that killed more than 100,000 Acehnese.

Aceh’s disaster agency said more than 8,000 displaced people were at shelters in Pidie Jaya. The Indonesian government has declared a two-week emergency period in Aceh and some aid is reaching hard-hit areas.

Humanitarian organisation CARE said it was leading a joint assessment mission of four international aid groups.

“It will take several more days to get a full picture of the impact,” CARE’s Indonesia director Helen Vanwel said in a statement. “We know from experience that after an earthquake of such a scale, people urgently need water, shelter, food and medicine.”

The Indonesian Red Cross deployed emergency response teams and announced bank accounts for donations.

Its head of disaster management, Arifin Hadi, said five water trucks had been sent into the quake area. Aid, including hygiene kits, tarpaulins, jerry cans, blankets and family assistance kits, is being distributed, with more to be sent from Jakarta, he said.

The International Organisation for Migration sent an assessment team to Aceh.

The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred about 19km (12 miles) south east of Sigli, a town near the northern tip of Sumatra, at a depth of 17km (11 miles). The agency had initially placed the epicentre undersea.

The disaster mitigation agency said more than 600 people were injured. The national disaster agency said about 245 buildings were seriously damaged or destroyed in Pidie Jaya and neighbouring Bireuen district, including 14 mosques. The rest were mainly dwellings and shops. Roads also cracked and power poles toppled over.

The world’s largest archipelago, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. The 2004 quake and tsunami killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.
International aid organisations arrive in the Indonesian province of Aceh as the death toll for the earthquake passes 100.