International aid began to arrive in Aceh in earnest on Wednesday, almost four days after the biggest earthquake in 40 years and the tsunami that followed devastated the Indonesian province.

Officials in Jakarta said the death toll from Sunday's disaster had reached more than 45,000 in Indonesia. But that number is expected to continue to rise, with a senior UN official saying yesterday that the eventual toll could be 55,000 to 80,000 in Aceh alone.