The international community has rallied to help Indonesia, offering medical relief teams and emergency supplies. The United Nations, which played a major humanitarian role in Indonesia's past natural disasters including the tsunami, also sent aid.

Australia and the United States have also pledged to send humanitarian aid worth $2.5 million and $2.2 million respectively.

President Bush called his Indonesian counterpart, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to express condolences. Yudhoyono has temporarily moved his office to Yogyakarta to be close to the rescue effort.

A prime tourist attraction, Yogyakarta is home to ancient and protected heritage sites such as Borobudur, the biggest Buddhist monument on Earth, which survived the quake.

But the Prambanan Hindu temple complex near the city suffered some damage, as did the roads and houses near it, a Reuters witness said. Some residents were begging passing motorists for money, he added.

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

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