Search teams pulled bodies from obliterated neighborhoods in the earthquake and tsunami stricken Indonesian city of Palu on Saturday, as more international aid arrived and humanitarian workers fanned out in the countryside.

A Japanese Self Defence Force plane landed at Palu's airport on Saturday morning.

Soldiers unloaded tons of supplies including medicines and small portable generators in boxes emblazoned with the Japanese flag and the words "From the People of Japan".

Victims in black body bags of the national search and rescue agency were arranged in a row at the crumpled Palu neighborhood of Balaroa, destined for a mass grave.

In the Indonesian village of Pewunu, excited children shouted, "Red Cross! Red Cross!" as one of its medical teams arrived and set up a makeshift clinic in a field where evacuees had gathered.

People living in the evacuee camp said two people had died in collapsing houses in the village.

They had clean water and noodles but not much else.

The Sept 28 earthquake and tsunami killed at least 1,571 people and swept away buildings along miles (kilometres) of coastline.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says $50.5 million is required to deliver "immediate, life-saving" aid.