7,000 More Bodies Discovered in Indonesia

[Rose Siding]

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Hardest hit was Sumatra, which was closest to the epicenter of the 9.0 magnitude quake, and where officials on Friday counted about 7,000 additional bodies -- mostly in Meulaboh, which had been cut off by washed-out roads -- raising Indonesia's toll to 101,318.

That raised the overall death toll from the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami to 147,531.

Indonesian military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said the sharp increase was largely due to volunteers helping to recover bodies. "There was an incredible spike in the death toll," Basuki said. "A good deal of it was from Meulaboh."

With tens of thousands still missing and threatened by disease from the powerful waves that hit 11 nations, the United Nations said the death toll would keep climbing.

"I think we have to be aware that very, very many of the victims have been swept away and many, many will not reappear," U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said in New York. "The 150,000 dead figure is a very low figure. It will be much bigger."

Security concerns for foreign aid workers emerged. The South Korean government asked its aid workers, some of them affiliated with Christian groups, not to engage in religious activities that could provoke Islamic radicals.

Also, in an apparent sign that American relief agencies want to keep a lower profile, several trucks delivering supplies from U.S. AID removed large banners marking the source of the shipments.

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