Hopes of finding more survivors in the rubble of Indonesia's devastating earthquake faded yesterday, as an emergency relief operation involving 22 countries picked up the pace to help the 200,000 people left homeless.

The airport in the historic city of Yogyakarta, the city closest to the epicentre of Saturday's quake, reopened after cracks in the runway were repaired.

Most of the survivors of the 6.3-magnitude quake were living in improvised shacks close to their demolished homes or in shelters erected in rice fields.

Getting food and fresh water remains a pressing concern, and thousands of people have taken to begging for cash and supplies along roadways.

At two hospitals in Bantul, the hardest-hit district, hallways and outdoor spaces that had been filled with injured survivors in the days after the quake were clear, with most patients now warded in beds.

The Asian Development Bank announced yesterday a total of US$60 million in grants and low-interest loans to Indonesia for rebuilding costs in the earthquake zone.

About 20 US Marines arrived on two military cargo planes in Yogyakarta and unloaded heavy lifting machinery and a portable field hospital.

Teams from Malaysia, Singapore and other nations are already working in the area.

Abdul Aziz Ahmad, the head of a Malaysia search and rescue team, said hope had faded of finding more survivors or bodies.

"The collapsed homes were all so small that anyone who was trapped would have been extracted by their family members," Abdul said. His team conducted a full day's search in Bantul on Monday and found only one body.

The quake pounded tens of thousands of homes into piles of bricks, tiles and wood in less than a minute, as many victims slept or were preparing breakfast.

The death toll from the government's Social Affairs Ministry yesterday stood at 5,427.

As the international aid operation increased, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has temporarily moved his office to the region, vowed that the government would not tolerate any siphoning off of aid money.

"I am ordering that not even one dollar will be misused," he said late on Monday. But help was still a long way off for some.

In the hard-hit rural area on the way to Bantul Town, Jumadi and his two barefoot teenage boys begged motorists for money.

"Our village has many victims, houses are all destroyed and we have not received aid from the government. This is all we can do. What else can we do?" he said.

Government and aid group officials say clean water and shelter are the immediate needs, as well as medical care.

The United Nations is shipping three 100-bed field hospitals, tents, medical supplies and generators this week.

Source: China Daily