Help slow to come

"Since yesterday, no district officials have come to check on us," Tugio told AFP, a day after 90 percent of the homes in Plesetan, south of the ancient city of Yogyakarta, had been destroyed.

Marianto added: "We've come here to get food and tents -- we need them badly."

In nearby Jetis, dozens of traumatized survivors were camped in front of the government offices, complaining that no officials had shown up to attend to their needs.

"There is not one single official here. The subdistrict chief came here yesterday, asked how many people died and then she left," complained Sulastri, a 31-year-old woman left homeless by the quake.

"Help only came from neighbouring families, who provided us with meals," she said.

Indonesian authorities insisted they were ready to handle the aftermath of the quake, the biggest disaster to hit the world's fourth most populous nation since the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- who rushed to the scene shortly after the quake -- was on site to oversee relief efforts.

"All operations are now on course," welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie told the ANTV television network, while visiting a makeshift shelter for the tens of thousands of people displaced by the quake.

Bakrie said the Jakarta government had earmarked 50 billion rupiah (5.5 million dollars) for relief operations, adding that all medical costs for quake victims would be paid by the state.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said Yudhoyono would stay in the area for several days to ensure that local, provincial and national authorities worked together with the army to mobilize all necessary resources.

Vice President Yusuf Kalla said some 5,000 troops would be deployed by late Sunday to assist with relief efforts. Hundreds of them arrived early in the day in Bantul district to begin delivering aid supplies.