Relief groups have warned repeatedly the Indonesian death toll from Sunday's tsunami could rise dramatically past the government's estimate of up to 100,000 due to survivors not having access to medical treatment.

And while no major epidemics have been detected and the destroyed medical infrastructure is slowly being rebuilt in the capital of Banda Aceh, people are starting to die from diseases such as pneumonia and skin infections.

"Many victims survived the flooding but they suffered lung diseases because they swallowed foreign particles," Indonesian Red Crescent team leader for Aceh Agoes Kooshartoro told AFP.

"Over the past five days many people have died because of this. They survived the waves but they died of infections. There are many stories like that and we have seen such incidents."

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) communications director John Budd told AFP on Friday that the medical system in Aceh had collapsed, with just one very basic hospital functioning in Banda Aceh.