Soon after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami Sunday that claimed the lives of at least 80,000 people in northern Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono traveled to the stricken province of Aceh.
He declared a state of national mourning for three days, appealed for calm and said he wanted to see the dead buried within two days in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
"I saw a lot of people seeking refuge in various places," Yudhoyono told reporters. "This must be addressed as soon as possible to prevent any further suffering."
The former general has been president less than 100 days, but his ability to deal with the crisis will probably define his presidency and the future of democracy in Indonesia, only six years after it dumped a military-backed authoritarian regime that had ruled for three decades.
Yudhoyono, facing one of the worst calamities in history, leads a sprawling nation of about 238 million, the world's most populous Muslim country. It is a collection of densely populated islands, including Sumatra, which took the brunt of Sunday's tsunami.
The period of mourning expired Thursday, but there has been no calm, and bodies are scattered about the city. The government is hardly functioning in the province, and there are not enough people to collect, identify, bag and bury the corpses.
Aceh, on Sumatra island's northern tip, has also been the focus of a long-running guerrilla war. The scale of the tragedy has succeeded in getting the rebels and the military to put down arms for the moment, so the military can help bury the dead and tend to the living.
But Yudhoyono, who won office in a landslide election on a platform to end corruption and rev up the economy, is still organizing his administration while also moving toward taking firm control of the nation's military, which is used to wielding its own influence.
The disaster will be a critical test of this U.S.-trained career military man, who last year almost succeeded in bringing the rebels to the peace table. He will need to inspire the military to perform in one of its most critical tasks yet, and to work alongside a disorganized civilian sector.
'A test case for him'
"Our president has the charisma to get the military under his command," said Alwi Shihab, coordinating minister for social welfare. "He wants to restore the situation as soon as possible. This is a test case for him."
Just as critical will be Yudhoyono's ability to spur civilian officials to coordinate their own efforts.
"They don't have clear standard operating procedures," said Indonesian Red Cross official Irman Rachman, who is in charge of the group's relief effort division. "They seem confused about what to do."
Rusdi Marpaung, chairman of the Aceh Working Group, a coalition of nongovernmental human rights organizations, said his group has been facing logistical problems in sending volunteers to Aceh. "Access is very limited," he said. "We've got 100 people who want to go, but there are not enough flights."
So Marpaung's volunteers are forced to fly commercial, but even commercial flights have been delayed or canceled at the airport in Medan, a city on Sumatra that was not damaged in the disaster and has become a staging point for relief workers.
"There is no methodical system of distributing the goods and accommodating the help," said Surya Paloh, a media magnate with political ambitions who has organized a private relief effort, mustering four private jets. "There is no sense of emergency and of how to respond quickly and effectively."
He said he has already delivered 40 tons of food and supplies and has 500 more waiting to go.
The lack of coordination has amplified logistical problems such as roads clogged with debris, demolished ports and airstrips, and broken communications systems. There are shortages of trucks, fuel, tank trucks, drivers, military helicopters and planes. Also lacking are electricity and clean water for cooking and drinking.
Meanwhile, more than 500,000 people are injured or homeless. Disease and starvation could swell the number of deaths.
Officials dead, missing or traumatized
Across the province, local government officials are dead, missing or too traumatized to function, so the Yudhoyono administration is planning to mobilize 300 officials from various ministries to replace them.
In one positive response to the disaster, the Free Aceh Movement announced a cease-fire in its struggle for independence. But it is unclear whether the unanticipated truce will lead to a rapprochement, or whether the rebels and the military will accept each other's presence and work together during the relief effort.
It also is unclear whether some members of the military, criticized for corruption, will take advantage of the influx of aid as another chance for enrichment.
The Bush administration, meanwhile, regards Indonesia as an important ally in the war on international terrorism. The disaster offers the United States a chance to provide significant aid and to highlight the humanitarian capabilities of the U.S. military in the country.
"Considering the pressing need, whatever we do couldn't be fast enough," said Charles Silver, a U.S. Embassy spokesman. "We have not had trouble getting our people in."
Special correspondent Yayu Yuniar contributed to this report.