(adds details, new quotes, changes dateline from SINGAPORE)

By Peter Apps

LONDON, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Aid agencies rushed teams and pledged money to Indonesia's Sumatra on Thursday after a powerful earthquake, relieved damage was not worse but still concerned about unreached rural areas and waterborne disease.

They said they were impressed with the speed of evacuation from coastal areas after the magnitude 8.4 earthquake and powerful aftershocks sparked a series of tsunami warnings around the Indian Ocean -- although the region was spared a repeat of the devastating 2004 tsunami which killed more than 280,000.

The United Nations said it still had a response team on six hours notice to move but that the disaster was not as bad as initially feared. An assessment team was on the ground.

"Our initial assessment is that the government will be able to cope," said UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs from Geneva. "But our team is still on standby and will go if needed."

Aid workers said initial surveys had been largely limited to the town of Bengkulu, where some buildings had collapsed but damage seemed manageable. There was little from rural areas.

"It seems in the town there is a good response organised by the Indonesian government in terms of primary health services, tents and shelter," Oxfam's Sebastien Fesneau told Reuters from Jakarta. "But we have less information on coastal areas. There are some areas that have apparently been more damaged than others."

Some reports spoke of some 40,000 homes damaged, he said, with up to 75 percent of properties damaged in some areas. But accurate information was hard to come by, he said.

Officials said at least 10 people had died, with others buried in rubble. Some aid staff said the toll could be higher.

Red Cross volunteers set up temporary medical centres, but the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Indonesia's own Red Cross society seemed able to cope and there was no need for an international response.

TSUNAMI LESSONS

U.S. agency Catholic Relief Services said it had committed $50,000 to its earthquake response, while other groups including World Vision and International Medical Corps said they were also rushing assessment teams to the area.

Australia pledged A$50,000 (US$42,000) in emergency aid on Thursday through the Indonesian Red Cross.

CARE International said its greatest worry was disease.

"After an earthquake of this size, the electricity and water systems are the first infrastructure to be broken because of the severe shaking," CARE International emergency team leader Adjie Fachurrazi said in a statement on the Reuters AlertNet website (www.AlertNet.org). "If people don't have access to clean water, the first danger is outbreak of waterborne disease."

A seismologist said the quake had in fact produced a tsunami but it travelled south west away from land and so did no damage. But the string of tsunami warnings sparked panic and evacuations around Indian Ocean coastlines still recovering from 2004.

From Sri Lanka to Thailand, worried residents and tourists sought shelter on higher ground. It was in stark contrast to 2004, where Sri Lankans were left unaware of the approaching giant wave hours after it had hit other Asian countries.

"Hopefully that is the legacy of 2004," Red Cross spokesman Matthew Cochrane said. "There is clearly an improved early warning system in the Indian Ocean. If it happens again hopefully it won't be nearly as bad."

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