Feature: Indonesia quake victims being treated in makeshift facilities as search and rescue operations intensify

Hundreds of victims of the powerful quake that rocked Indonesia's Aceh province are being treated outdoors in emergency makeshift tents, while rescuers intensify their searches for survivors in these vital hours who may still be trapped under the ruble.

Patients being treated in hospitals, according to medical officials, are in fear of aftershocks further shaking the region and leading to buildings weakened by the temblor crumbling, and have voiced their reluctance to staying in medical facilities, with some opting to brave the cold elements outdoors as well as other worries including swarms of mosquitos.

Umi Kalsum, 70, being treated on a simple mattress at the Meureudu hospital in the Pidie Jaya district for bodily injures from broken glass following Wednesday's 6.4-magnitude quake, told Xinhua of her fears and concerns following the killer tremor.

"I don't want to be inside a room because I'm scared the ceiling might fall or the walls collapse if there's a big aftershock. And I am wary that the building may fall entirely as it has been weakened by the quake," Kalsum told Xinhua on Thursday.

Kalsum is among over 700 people in the Aceh province suffering from wounds, including broken and fractured bones, as a result of the disaster, which has killed more than 102 people with more than 10,000 more displaced according to official figures communicated to Xinhua.

"As I was sleeping, the cupboard beside my bed fell and hit me during the quake, with shards from the mirror injuring my body," Kalsum said.

Others being treated outside hospital facilities, including children, told Xinhua the wintry climes and rampant mosquitoes where unbearable, as local authorities scramble to set up more makeshift tents to serve as temporary medical facilities across the Pidie Jaya district, as Rafiati, head of the social department of Pidie district explained.

"On Wednesday night, most of the quake affected persons slept outside their damaged homes without shelter. So now tents are desperately needed by around 10,000 displaced people," he told Xinhua, adding that a warehouse where stockpiles of tents were kept had been destroyed by the quake.

Separately along the streets, particularly at local shopping centers, soldiers, police personnel and volunteers are intensifying search and rescue operations for people yet to be accounted for.

In a shopping center in the Mereudeu sub-district, rescuers recovered dozens of bodies and are still searching for more than 20 people under the debris of collapsed shop buildings.

"We must speed up our efforts because there are still more than 20 people from a wedding party still trapped under the debris," Sef Gulo, a soldier involving in rescue operations, told Xinhua.

The quake that occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 10 km has flattened hundreds of houses, shop buildings, religious establishments and other infrastructure, primarily in the districts of Pidie Jaya, Pidie, and Bireun. Enditem