Berman also covered the Indian Ocean tsunami from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and the steroids scandal in American sports.
One Aceh resident, Murtala, told the BBC Indonesian service his father had been arrested by mistake.
BBC: Amnesty: Indonesia 'failing to uphold' Aceh peace terms
Aceh in Sumatra was the first area to convert to Islam, in medieval times.
Today, Banda Aceh is rattled by quakes sometimes two to three times a week.
This is why the authorities in Jakarta are so worried about separatism in Aceh.
The war ended in 2005 after the two sides signed a peace deal giving Aceh more autonomy.
BBC: Amnesty: Indonesia 'failing to uphold' Aceh peace terms
Indonesia has failed to uphold its 2005 peace agreement commitments with Aceh province, a new report says.
BBC: Amnesty: Indonesia 'failing to uphold' Aceh peace terms
The epicenter was nearest the Indonesian province of Aceh, where governmental authorities quickly turned on warning sirens.
Some people called for those in Jakarta who had sent the soldiers to Aceh to be prosecuted.
Aceh is more devoutly Islamic than the rest of the country, whereas Papua is tribal and Christian.
Five months ago, many found it hard to imagine the village of Peuken Bada, in Aceh Province, recovering.
An under-employed American envoy to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni, has been taking an interest in Aceh.
It has sent troops as far afield as Aceh and Congo and co-ordinated big national deployments in Lebanon.
Around 10, 000 people are thought to have died in Aceh's conflict since GAM was founded in the 1970s.
Many Islamic teachers in the rural parts of Aceh, and their students, are inclined to trust this scholarly Muslim.
Asked the simplest of questions, the deputy editor of the weekly newspaper Kontras in Banda Aceh frowns in concentration.
He says that this (like the other sum in dispute) was to be used as humanitarian aid for Aceh.
In another note, sent to a local newspaper, the women insisted they were in south Aceh for a holiday.
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the boss of Indonesia's new REDD agency, was previously in charge of rebuilding Aceh after the tsunami.
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The situation in Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, is equally troubling.
In Jakarta, Mr Surayud said the peace process under way in Indonesia's breakaway Aceh province would serve as a model.
The earthquake measured 8.6 on the Richter scale, occurred 434km south-west of Banda Aceh Province in Sumatra at 08.38 UTC.
Ms Sadler, from Iowa, was in Aceh to treat the sick and injured in refugee camps, according to her daughter.
But Aceh managed to bring a measure of control to the flood of aid by setting up a special agency.
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The most recent to emerge is what happened at Aceh, a devoutly Muslim province at the north-western tip of the archipelago.
The Aceh Party, representing the former separatists, is expected to do best, though not as well as it says it will.
Most agencies flocked to Aceh's devastated west coast -- but 150, 000 people displaced on the east coast received far less aid.
In recent days the DRN has coordinated the arrival and distribution of aid supplies at airports in Sri Lanka and Bandar Aceh.
They say there is no basic difference between the new Indonesia and the old one, and that Aceh is different from both.
In less than 12 hours the Tsunami had finally reached the coast of Africa from its point of origin in Banda Aceh.
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