BANDA ACEH, Dec 27: "It was as if God had unleashed His anger on the people," said Haji Ali, surveying what remained of his Indonesian town after colossal waves swept through, sparing little in their path.

Whole communities were swallowed on Sunday by the rampaging waters as they coursed along the coastline of Aceh, a remote and conflict-scarred region on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

In the tiny town of Paton Labu, close to Bireuen on Aceh's northern coast, Ali said a large area vanished from the shoreline as fearsome tidal forces sent 10-metre waves crashing inland.

Thousands were killed as flimsy wooden houses disintegrated into the advancing ocean, while many others were missing. Meanwhile, hundreds more homeless villagers, dressed in sarongs, milled anxiously on the waters' edge.

But the bulk of the disaster's fury was reserved for the provincial capital Banda Aceh, which was cut off for 24 hours after the quake, where thousands of residents were Monday fleeing a scene of ruin and death.

A once densely-populated stretch of coastline surrounding the city was stripped clean of all signs of human existence while in the centre of the city, buildings were flattened and power lines downed.

The bloated bodies of infants and animals were also seen in the streets as people, covering their mouths with nausea, searched for their missing relatives in a surreal landscape where boats and automobiles dangled from trees. -AFP