accessible roads and a shortage of available helicopters. What little aid reached the remote regions of Aceh province trickled in primarily by boat and air. While the airfield outside Banda Aceh was functioning, most of the other small gravel airfields were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami. In the first days only two airfields were functioning in the province. As most of the few roads in the region were on the coast because of the rugged interior, much of the transport infrastructure was damaged or destroyed. Helicopters and Indonesian navy ships off the coast supplied a small amount of aid. On approach to the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport in Banda Aceh, a heavy cargo plane hit a water buffalo which had strayed onto the runway on 4 January 2005. The left side of the plane's undercarriage collapsed, making the plane un-movable blocking the runway for a big part of that day, except for helicopters, until specialists from Singapore put a temporary support under that part of the plane, and men moved the plane off the runway. Four planes carrying aid were sent by Australia and one from the US carrying an evaluation team. An Australian ship carrying helicopters set sail, but did not reach Sumatra until 14 January 2005. A US Navy aircraft carrier battle group centred on USS Abraham Lincoln, dispatched to assist Aceh, began ferrying small amounts of supplies to the remnants of small coastal communities. The US relief operation was based at the Thai base of Utapao. In Aceh some elephants from a wildlife park were used to move debris. (Elephants were also used in Thailand). See also 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake 2006 Pangandaran earthquake and tsunami References External links The Jakarta Post newspaper (Indonesia) Banda Aceh, Indonesia Quickbird satellite image, DigitalGlobe Inc., 2004-12-28 Surf Aid International surfers seek to give back to their favorite surfing spots NiasIsland.com an open content site made by Niasians and (former) visitors to Nias Aceh IT-Media Center a relief coordinating site/media center from the Indonesian IT community Indonesia HELP Aid and donations information blog for earthquake and tsunami victims in Aceh & North Sumatra (Indonesia) IndonesiaHelp.ORG collection of news/articles from other resources (in some languages). Mapping the destruction – BBC Indonesia Post-Suharto era 2004 in Indonesia Natural disasters in Indonesia