United Nations chief Kofi Annan was left stunned by the scale of carnage wrought along the annihilated coastlines of Indonesia's tsunami zone on Friday as the country's death toll passed 101 000.

Annan flew by helicopter from the semi-demolished city of Banda Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island to the town of Meulaboh   ground zero of last week's disaster   accompanied by World Bank President James Wolfensohn.

"I must admit I have never seen such utter destruction — mile after mile and you wonder where are the people, what happened to them?" he told reporters after returning to Banda Aceh, which is now the hub of humanitarian efforts.

"We saw people begin to pick up the pieces and get on with their lives and of course it shows about the resilience of the human spirit," he said, adding that post-traumatic stress was likely to be a major problem.

Indonesia's social affairs ministry on Friday revised the country's death toll to 101 318 almost double the casualty figure for the rest of the Indian Ocean countries hit by the killer waves.

Possible second wave of carnage

On Thursday Annan told an emergency summit in Jakarta that donors must stump up $977-million of immediate cash relief to help those affected by the tsunamis or face a possible second wave of carnage as disease loomed.

The UN chief said despite the desolation he had witnessed, there was still a glimmer of hope provided aid could be delivered swiftly.

"Given the support and efforts by the government and the international community, the people will be able to pick up and carry on. But they are going to need lots of help," he added.

Thursday's summit saw Annan take charge of relief efforts as the United States disbanded a "core group" of aid-giving countries and threw its weight behind the UN — a step likely to cut the chaos hampering operations.

Washington's leading role in the humanitarian effort, which saw US navy ships and helicopters race into Indonesia and other countries, was initially seen as a slight to the world body which has struggled to oversee relief.

US presence to increase

The US military's presence in Indonesia was due to increase drastically on Friday with the arrival of a strike group led by the USS Bonhomme Richard, to reinforce helicopter squadrons from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier.

A vanguard squad of marines arrived in Banda Aceh's airport ahead of a deployment of a contingent carrying 2200 personnel.