Relief workers struggle to reach survivors; U.S. boosts aid.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: Ben Stocking, Tim Johnson and Ken Moritsugu

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia _ Relief workers from around the world faced daunting problems getting aid to areas devastated by this week's earthquake and tsunami, and desperate residents from Indonesia to Sri Lanka lashed out at what they saw as a sluggish response to their pleas for help.

Meanwhile, the White House said the United States would provide $350 million in aid for victims of the disaster, well above its initial pledge of $35 million. The move comes as the U.S. government has rapidly ratcheted up its aid package in the five days since tidal waves devastated nations from Thailand across the Indian Ocean to eastern Africa.

By Friday, the death toll from the natural disaster remained in the range of 123,000, with little change in official counts since Thursday. But Indonesian officials particularly were worried that the number of dead on the ravaged island of Sumatra could shoot up again.

The total there might eventually top 100,000. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said his country hasn't been hit so hard since the famed volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.

Given the estimated 5,000 foreign tourists still unaccounted for, and the fact that many islands in the Indian Ocean and areas of Indonesia have yet to be subject to a complete count, the death toll is certain to rise.

A spokeswoman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies late Friday put the death tolls at 80,000 in Indonesia, 28,000 in Sri Lanka, 10,000 in India, 4,500 in Thailand, and several hundred scattered among a handful of other countries.