The Australian government's $1 billion aid package to Indonesia has set a standard for wealthy countries to follow, a spokesman for Australian aid agency Oxfam Community Aid Abroad said.

Prime Minister John Howard overnight pledged $1 billion to help Australia's neighbour following the Boxing Day tsunami that has left up to 100,000 Indonesians dead in the Aceh province alone.

The package is the largest donation ever made by the Australian government, and was announced ahead of an international summit in Jakarta on Thursday to co-ordinate the rebuilding of tsunami-ravaged southern Asia.

Over five years, Australia will give Indonesia grants and long-term interest free loans to help it recover from the disaster.

Mr Howard will join leaders and representatives from the Association of South-East Asian Nations, the United States, Europe, Japan and China for the summit.

Oxfam policy director James Ensor, who is in Jakarta, said Australia had set a fine example for other nations.

"There are some important aspects to this announcement other rich countries should follow at today's summit," he said.

"Firstly, the aid package consists of new aid money and will not involve reallocating aid away from other humanitarian crises such as that in the Darfur region of Sudan.

"Secondly, the five-year package represents a long-term commitment to reconstruction and poverty alleviation in Indonesia."

Mr Ensor said the summit must agree to a comprehensive long-term package of aid, debt relief and trade concessions for countries affected by the disaster.

Oxfam is working to assist more than 320,000 people affected by the tsunami disaster in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where it is providing essentials including food, clean water, shelter and sanitation.

UN wants money set aside

The United Nations wants major donors to set aside nearly $1 billion in emergency aid over the next six months to provide basic needs for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, UN officials said.

The appeal, to be launched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is aimed at getting commitments for specific aid needs, much of it from more than $3 billion worth already promised and perhaps from new contributions.

The pledges from some 50 countries and corporations rose to well over $3 billion on Thursday, with an astounding $765 million announced by Australia and $680 million from Germany.

But both countries and many other nations have earmarked parts of their contributions to reconstruction aid over a three-to-five year period rather than to immediate humanitarian relief.

Annan, due to attend a meeting in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Thursday, will ask for $950 million and distribute a detailed list for specific projects, like water puritifcation, that UN bodies need in each south Asian country affected by the Dec. 26 disaster around the Indian Ocean rim.

Although pledges run to well over $3 billion, the United Nations has so far received far less than that, and Annan at a press conference on Monday expressed fears that it may not all be forthcoming.

"The appeal is for UN efforts and partner organizations," Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said.

"It would surprise me... if it will not be fully covered by those $3-$4 million," Egeland said.

The UN World Health Organization, for example, wants $60 million of the money immediately. It warned that 150,000 people were at "extreme risk" of dying from preventable diseases unless access to clean drinking water and other basic needs are restored within days.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said the disaster had left women extremely vulnerable in a region where sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation were already issues of concern and said more policing was needed as soon as possible.

It said a women's collective in Sri Lanka reported rape, molestation and physical abuse of homeless women and girls.