As relief efforts increased, bringing a glimmer of hope but facing huge obstacles, the toll rose too, five days after a quake below the Indian Ocean sent killer waves crashing ashore.

Some 135,000 lives were confirmed lost in an arc of suffering from Africa to Indonesia's Sumatra island, which alone accounted for two thirds of the dead -- and where officials said another 20,000 bodies were likely to be found.

Indonesia's health minister said yesterday that her country would give up trying to find a precise figure for the number of people killed in the earthquake and tsunami.

Siti Fadilah Supari said her officials would from now on give only general estimates since the number of dead was too large to provide an exact tally.

The ministry said earlier the final casualty number from Sunday's catastrophe would likely reach up to 100,000.

Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds, who returned to Stockholm yesterday from tsunami-devastated Thailand, said she believed the total death toll from the disaster in the region was rising towards 200,000.

"The whole area is still chaotic... dead bodies are being collected, boats are arriving from the islands loaded with (dead) people, in the whole area the death toll is beginning to rise towards 200,000," Freivalds told a news conference.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it an unprecedented global catastrophe needing a fitting response, adding that it would be hard to reach and care for the 5 million homeless.

"Not only are we going to be stretched in terms of manpower and human resources, but we are also going to be stretched financially and technically," he said.

Aid started to get through to stricken areas, but not always to the right people amid poor coordination and destruction.

Normally exuberant New Year celebrations were tempered out of respect for victims. Sydney hoped to lead a global minute of silence and several cities cancelled parties, in Asia but also in Europe, several thousand of whose tourists were dead or missing.

Trucks laden with food, medicines and body bags rolled across Asia. Aircraft dropped supplies to cut-off villages as the $500 million relief operation, probably the biggest in history, swung into gear.

Giant transport planes from Australia and Singapore landed at Banda Aceh, capital of Indonesia's worst-hit province of Aceh, and disgorged emergency supplies, but that was the easy part.

Getting help from regional centres to people cut off in coastal lands, with obliterated towns, washed-away roads, scant fuel, barely a boat and debris-clogged harbours, is a nightmare.

Aid started to get through but amid much frustration.

Crowds, faces covered with masks or handkerchiefs for fear of disease from polluted water and corpses bloated by the water and tropical heat, besieged aid workers delivering food in Aceh. Sunday's quake, the worst for 40 years, struck just off its west coast.

Police guarded the few working petrol pumps. Signs tacked up on poles and fences pleaded: "Please help. Give us aid."

Experts warned disease would kill many more, with children most at risk. Diarrhoea, cholera and malaria are among the dangers.

"People need to be treated now so they don't get deep infections," said Peter Sharwood, an Australian surgeon unable to get a ride into Banda Aceh from the airport. "Those who had life-threatening injuries to start with have probably already died."

Aceh province was rattled by a series of powerful aftershocks early Thursday but the tremors were not enough to create a repeat tsunami.

The latest quake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale shook sea northwest of the main Sumatra island city of Medan shortly after 4:00 am (2100 GMT Wednesday), after two quakes measuring 5.1 and 5.2 the previous evening.

"This is not big enough to cause tidal waves," said Fauzi of the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Office.

Sri Lanka, further from the quake's epicentre but savagely hit, raised its death toll to more than 28,500.

"The true figure will probably never be known because people are burying the corpses where they find them," said Anjali Kwatra, of the island's Christian Aid emergency assessment team.

Thousands died in India, Thailand and as far away as Kenya. Some 6,000 foreign tourists, mostly north Europeans at popular resorts, are missing and presumed dead.

The United States is to increase its aid for victims of Asia's tsunami devastation to 350 million dollars, President George W. Bush announced yesterday, calling it an "epic disaster."

The US leader said the tenfold increase in the previous US donation was made because of the worsening crisis around the Indian Ocean.

Bush indicated that even more US money could be found in the weeks ahead "as the full effects of this terrible tragedy become clearer."

People across the world opened their hearts and wallets to give millions of dollars to victims.

Canada announced a debt moratorium for disaster-struck countries. A source said the Paris Club of creditor states was to examine a similar, coordinated move. China became the latest country to raise its pledge, to $63 million.

Analysts estimated damage from the disaster at about $14 billion, excluding potential losses of business and productivity. Some are cutting growth estimates for the hardest-hit countries.