BANGKOK (AlertNet) - Essential aid has reached most villages on Indonesia's West Sumatra nearly four weeks after an earthquake triggered landslides that buried communities and blocked roads, aid agencies have said.

Indonesia's government wanted the reconstruction stage to start on Nov. 1 but aid agencies said that because only half the medical facilities were operational and shelter was still a major concern the emergency relief mission would continue for another two months.

"There may be a couple of isolated areas that still have received nothing but most people have got something, either through the government, the international community or the corporate world," Gregg McDonald from Red Cross, leading the emergency shelter group, said.

Isolated villages dot the heavily forested island of Sumatra where two powerful earthquakes on Sept. 30 set off landslides that crushed many of these villages and buried roads under rubble, blocking access to aid workers.

Often, air has been the only way to ferry supplies to these villages.

The Red Cross, whose medical team has visited over 30 villages -- around a third of which have been very remote -- said it would continue using the four helicopters as well as vehicles for relief and medical help for the next eight weeks.

"Access is much better but there are still some villages that are difficult to get to," Kathy Mueller, a communications officer at the Red Cross, said.

The U.N. says up to 2.5 million people are living in the six most affected districts around the city of Pandang, which bore the brunt of the earthquake that killed over 1,000 people.

SHELTER ESSENTIAL

Emergency shelter materials are still being used, McDonald said, but with the monsoon season in full swing and the threat of fresh landslides in affected areas, aid agencies said it was essential to start working on transitional shelters and not temporary ones like tarpaulin.

McDonald said a few agencies have already started distributing timber, coconut wood, corrugated iron sheets and other roofing materials to construct transitional shelters that can last up to a year.

"With rainy season here we really don't want people living in tents and tarpaulins any longer than necessary," said Kirsten Mildren from U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Concerns over supply problems, which reared its head a week ago and led to a lull in provision of tents and tarpaulins, have largely been resolved but ACT, an alliance of church-based relief organisations expressed concerns over the distribution.

It said that Padang city, with over 76,000 damaged houses, was "badly underserved" while Padang Pariaman, closer to the epicentre and with over 80,000 houses damaged but with less heavy infrastructure had the highest number of organisations planning to provide shelter.

Padang's water networks have also been badly affected, with only 20 percent of the population connected to the water distribution network despite the presence of desalination plants.

Rebuilding the heavily damaged infrastructure including schools, public buildings and health facilities would take a long time, said Mark Fritzler, Save the Children's country director for Indonesia. He added it is essential for children to get back into their usual school and play routines to bring a sense of normalcy to their lives.

Aid agencies say children as young as three now line the roads of Padang Pariaman district with various boxes and containers begging. The U.N. said the damage of over 200 schools have affected close to 90,000 students from preschool to upper secondary level.

"The need for rebuilding school and houses is huge, it could be in billions of dollars," Fritzler said.

"Donors are not giving money to build buildings right now, it should be the government of Indonesia's responsibility but we're not seeing any real robust plans to move a lot of money in that direction so that is a concern."

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