In the afternoon heat, Sugiyo picked through the remnants of his brick home. He had been trapped with his family before being rescued by neighbours. His mother was killed.

His face lit up as he spotted a pink box containing diapers and baby clothes. "This is for my 2-year-old daughter," he said, holding it tightly in his arms.

Throughout the disaster-struck region, authorities struggled to deliver aid.

"The problem now is that we are still short of tents, many people are still living on the streets or open areas," said Suseno, a field officer of the Yogyakarta disaster task force.

Clean water was another problem, officials said. In Bantul, all 12 water distribution systems had been either knocked out completely or were not working properly, UNICEF's Budd said.

"The area destroyed by the quake is very large," said Social Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah. "We need time ... hopefully, in a week or 10 days the emergency period can be over."

The quake struck while many were still in bed. The wooden roofs of flimsy houses fell in on them.

Fearful of aftershocks, thousands camped outside for a second night despite rain.

Hospitals struggled to cope. Hundreds of people crammed into the corridors and grounds of Yogyakarta's Bethesda hospital. Rainwater streamed into the building through cracks opened up by the earthquake.

Hospital volunteer Andrew Jeremijenko said: "There's a lot of severe injuries ... there are not enough nurses or doctors to cope with the load."

Saturday's was the third major tremor to hit Indonesia in 18 months. The worst, the December 26, 2004 quake and its resulting tsunami, left some 170,000 people dead or missing around Aceh. Indonesia sits on the Asia-Pacific region's "Ring of Fire", marked by heavy volcanic and tectonic activity.

On Sunday a quake of 6.7 magnitude struck the South Pacific island of Tonga and the New Britain region of Papua New Guinea felt a 6.2 magnitude quake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

A prime tourist attraction, the Yogyakarta area is home to ancient heritage sites like Borobudur, the biggest Buddhist monument on Earth. It survived the quake.

But the Prambanan Hindu temple complex suffered some damage, as did the roads and houses near it, a Reuters witness said.

Indonesian media reported that outer sections of Yogyakarta's centuries-old royal palaces had also collapsed.