May 18 Cyclone Nagris Fund raising Flyer (Burmese) by Fremont Youths

Tell your representatives: Save 1.5 millions Cyclone Survivors in Burma NOW

Dear All,

Please fax the attached flyer (MS word or PDF format) to  your representatives. Also call them and talk to them of the dire situation in Burma: 1.5 millions Cyclone survivors are starving and on the brink of death if aid does not get to them right away. Please visit https://forms. house.gov/ wyr/welcome. shtml to locate the contacts to your representatives.

Moe information can be found here: http://www.badasf. org/2008/ savecyclonevicti ms.htm

Thanks,

‘Unimaginable Tragedy’ if Burma Keeps Delaying Aid

Desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis poured out of Burma's Irrawaddy delta on Sunday in search of food, water and medicine as aid groups said thousands more people will die if emergency supplies do not get through soon.

People gather to receive free rice from the government after cyclone Nargis hit Burma, in the outskirts of Rangoon on Saturday. (Photo: AP)

Buddhist temples and high schools in towns on the outskirts of Cyclone Nargis's trail of destruction are now makeshift refugee centers for some of the 1.5 million people left clinging to survival.

The reclusive military government is reluctantly accepting aid from the outside world, including the United Nations, but has made it very clear it will not let in the foreign logistics teams needed to transport the aid as quickly as possible into the inundated delta.

"Unless there is a massive and fast infusion of aid, experts and supplies into the hardest-hit areas, there's going to be a tragedy on an unimaginable scale," said Greg Beck of the International Rescue Committee.

In the delta town of Laputta, where 80 percent of homes were destroyed, the authorities were providing just one cup of rice per family per day, a European Commission aid official told Reuters.
The scenes are the same across the delta, where as many as 100,000 people are feared dead in the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.

"We have 900 people here, but we only have 300 lunch boxes. We gave it to the women and children first. The men still have not had any food," said a woman at a relief centre in the town of Myaung Mya, 100 km (60 miles) west of Rangoon.

"More are arriving every day," she said.

The UN appealed for $187 million in aid, even though it is still not confident the food, water and tents flown in will make it to those most in need because of the junta's reluctance to admit international relief workers.

Burma's state media says 23,350 people have died and 37,019 are missing after Cyclone Nargis roared up the Irrawaddy delta the night of May 2 whipping up a wall of seawater that flattened everything in its path.

Health experts warned that a "second disaster" was looming from diseases such as diarrhea and malaria, even if survivors do manage to find food and shelter.

State-run TV warned of "foreign interference" in a repeatedly broadcast message on Saturday urging people to vote “Yes” for the constitution.

Most people probably did just that. Of the 20 people Reuters interviewed near polling stations in Hlegu Township in Rangoon Division on Saturday, only two admitted to voting “No.” Even then it was in a whisper and with a nervous glance over the shoulder.

Junta Distributes Foreign Aid—But with Burmese Generals' Names

Burma's military regime distributed some international aid on Saturday but first it plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.

The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded with aid even though the junta took over its first two shipments on Friday. The government agreed to let a US cargo plane bring in supplies on Monday, but foreign disaster experts are still being barred entry.

State-run television continuously runs images of top generals—including the junta leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe—handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies.

One box bore the name of Lt-Gen Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: "Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand."
State media officially says 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing from Cyclone Nargis, which submerged entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta. International aid organizations say the death toll could climb to more than 100,000 as conditions worsen.

The UN estimates 1.5 million to 2 million people have been severely affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of bodies and the number of people that are homeless.

With phone lines down, roads blocked and electricity networks destroyed, it is nearly impossible to reach isolated areas in the delta, complicated by the lack of experienced international aid workers and equipment.

But the junta has refused to grant access to foreign experts, saying it will only accept donations from foreign charities and governments, and then will deliver the aid on its own. Observers say the junta lacks the resources and the will to distribute the amount of aid needed, assuming it will let the aid enter the country.

The government has only a few dozen helicopters, most which are small and old. It also has about 15 transport planes, primarily small jets unable to carry hundreds of tons of supplies.

So far, relief workers have reached 220,000 cyclone victims, only a small fraction of the number of people affected, the Red Cross said on Friday. Three Red Cross aid flights loaded with shelter kits and other emergency supplies landed on Friday without incident.

But the government seized two planeloads of high-energy biscuits—enough to feed 95,000 people—sent by the UN World Food Program. Despite the seizure, WFP was sending three more planes on Saturday from Dubai, Cambodia and Italy even though those could be confiscated, too.
"We are working around the clock with the authorities to ensure the kind of access that we need to ensure it goes to people that need it most," WFP spokesman Marcus Prior said in Bangkok, Thailand.

Richard Horsey, a spokesman for UN humanitarian operations, said an international presence is needed in Burma to look at the logistics of getting boats, helicopters and trucks into the delta area.
"That's a critical bottleneck that must be overcome at this point," he said in Bangkok.
He warned there was a great risk of diarrhea and cholera spreading due to the lack of clean drinking water and sanitation.

"We are running out of time here. This could be a huge problem and this could lead to a second phase which could be as deadly as the cyclone," he said.

Heavy rain forecast in the next week is certain to exacerbate the misery. Diplomats and aid groups warned the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because of illnesses and said thousands of children may have been orphaned.

Survivors from one of the worst-affected areas, near the town of Bogalay, were among those fighting hunger, illness and wrenching loneliness.

"All my 28 family members have died," said Thein Myint, a 68-year-old fisherman who wept while describing how the cyclone swept away the rest of his family. "I am the only survivor."
Officials have said only one out of 10 people who are homeless, injured or threatened by disease and hunger have received some kind of aid since the cyclone hit on May 3.

About 20,000 body bags were being sent so volunteers from the Burmese chapter of the Red Cross can start collecting bodies, said Anders Ladekarl, the head of the Danish Red Cross.

Day 10: Answering Your Question on Aung San Suu Kyi

Day 10: Answering Your Question on Aung San Suu Kyi,
World's Only Imprisoned Nobel Prize Recipient

Dear friends,

Many thanks to all of our supporters who are now holding events across the country to help raise funds for victims of the Cyclone.  The situation gets more dire everyday.  It appears that still only a trickle of humanitarian aid is reaching the people most in need, and yesterday even the United Nations World Food Program briefly suspended shipments of aid to Burma after the military regime impounded aid planes.  Reports indicate that supplies that should be reaching the Burmese people are literally sitting on the tarmac. 

We are going to send you a full update about the Cyclone, we are pulling it together right now.  For a quick moment though, we wanted to answer a question that hundreds of you (including many journalists) have been asking us:  what is the condition of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's struggle for human rights and democracy and the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient? 

Here is the answer: we were informed she was not hurt.  Apparently part of her house was damaged in the Cyclone, but she was not injured.  Yet, she is living in the dark as there are power outages throughout the city.  She is still under arrest and forbidden from helping Cyclone victims.

We are also sharing with you video #10 of our 30-day video campaign for Burma which can be watched on our website or at www.burmaitcantwait.org.  The goal of this campaign is to mobilize one milion people to sign up for U.S. Campaign for Burma so that we can be a powerful team working for change in Burma.  The military regime's shameful, criminal response to the Cyclone reminds us yet again why this is so important.  We need to rally the people of the world together to make sure that what is happening right now in Burma never, ever happens again.

Please send this video to as many of your friends and family as possible.  Also, please encourage them to sign up.  You can watch the first 9 days of videos at www.burmaitcantwait.org

Stay tuned for an update on the Cyclone.

Pledges for Burmese Cyclone Relief Reach $77 million

The United Nations said on Friday $77 million has now been pledged to provide humanitarian relief to storm-stricken Burma.

Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, earlier issued an appeal for $187 million to carry out relief operations in Burma, where an estimated 1.5 million people are homeless and the number of dead is approaching 100,000 or more.

Holmes said the money pledged so far would cover the needs of at least 1.5 million homeless people for the next six months. The lead donors were Japan and Britain, which pledged $10 million each.
A total of $20 million was immediately allocated to build up relief supplies to be shipped to the country in the coming weeks.

In all, representatives of more than two dozen donor countries spoke on the cyclone disaster, reelecting a global consensus on the need to distribute aid as quickly as possible.

Responding to the issues of access and cooperation, the Burmese Ambassador to the UN, Kyaw Tint Swe, said his country is ready to cooperate with the international community and receive aid from all quarters. He said it must be orderly. Burmese officials have said that it will not allow foreign aid workers to distribute relief supplies. 

UN officials said the cyclone’s death toll could be between 63,000 and 100,000. Officially, the Burmese government has put the figure at around 23,000.

UN officials said the challenge is not just to get the aid and trained relief workers to the airport in Rangoon, but to get material into the Irrawaddy delta, an area that is now flooded  and without electricity, communications, safe drinking water, food and medicine. 

Homes said it was disappointing that Myanmar authorities were not ready to receive foreign aid workers. Being optimistic, he said he hoped it meant they were not ready at present, but would be in the future. 

Referring to the few visas that have been issued to aid workers by the Burmese authorities, he said it was obviously not a blanket ban. 

Authorities should have an "open house" for international humanitarian aid workers, whether from the United Nations, individual countries or private groups, he said.

Responding to a question, he said it is not impossible or unusual for a government to be involved in the distribution of humanitarian assistance. 

"There is no absolute blanket principle that the UN does not allow governments to be involved in distribution," he said.

Medical aid from the World Health Organization and UNICEF is currently being distributed by the Myanmar Ministry of Health through its health system, and that is perfectly normal, he said. 
The current issue is about the degree of control and monitoring possible for the distribution, he said.

Earlier, the Japanese ambassador to the UN, Yukio Takasu, urged Burma to accept aid workers and relief supplies as soon as possible.

"Speed is essential,” he said. “This will definitely help the government save people who are desperately in need of help."

The Chinese Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN said China urges member nations not to politicize the disaster relief process. Chinese relief efforts have had no problems with the junta with regard to visas and customs, he said. Blaming the Burmese government for blocking aid is not justified, he said.

"They have enough people to carry on relief operation,” he said. “I see the local government has been effective. They are doing decent distribution."

Speaking on behalf of Asean, the Singapore Ambassador, Gopala Menon, said the humanitarian disaster requires an unprecedented humanitarian response.

Menon said Singapore has contributed $200,000 in emergency supplies; Thailand and Indonesia have dispatched plane loads of supplies valued at $1 million each and the Philippines is preparing to send a 15-man medical mission.

Vietnam has provided $90,000 in donations; Cambodia $50,000; and Malaysia $350,000.
Asean has established an emergency humanitarian relief fund, which recently received its first donation of $100,000 from the Nippon Foundation.

UN Chief Urges Burma to Postpone Referendum

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on Thursday tried to call Snr-Gen Than Shwe to urge him to postpone the scheduled May 10 referendum on the draft constitution and to focus on the relief effort aimed at the survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

Ban had written to the reclusive general two days earlier with the same message. So far, he has received no reply to both of his efforts at communication.

UN aid officials continue to express frustration over their lack of ability to get visas to allow assistance teams to enter Burma.

Ban, who was enroute to Georgia, told reporters that he called Snr-Gen Than Shew but was not put through to him directly.

"I expect that I will be able to speak to him, but nothing has been scheduled yet," Ban  said.
Meanwhile, top UN officials said they have been unable to make much progress in relief and aid operations, because of the bureaucratic hurdles posed by the military junta.

The secretive, xenophobic country has been dragging its feet over allowing relief teams to enter the country and pressing its demands that money and relief be delivered directly to the military government, officials said. The military government has a long history of fear of outsiders.

"I am deeply concerned by the inability of many food aid and international aid workers not being able to deliver as soon or as much as we had hoped," Ban told reporters in Georgia.

"I am urging again at this time the Myanmar authorities to do that, to first of all issue visas expeditiously, and if possible, exempt all visa requirements for all UN aid workers, so that we can reach out to needy people," he said. More than 40 visa applications are pending with the Burmese authorities right now, he said.
"I am concerned that if we lose time, then many more people will die because of this crisis. I am also concerned that disease may spread. This we must prevent as soon as possible."

Earlier in the day, John Holmes, under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and United Nations Emergency Relief, also expressed his frustration that relief material had not reached Burma.

"Frustration is growing that the humanitarian response is being held back because of difficulties of access in different ways,” he said. “There has been limited progress since yesterday, but not nearly as much as was needed. Conditions on the ground are desperate.”

Holmes said two members of the Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team were now in Yangon, but two others had not been allowed in for reasons yet to be established, but which might have to do with their passports.
"World Food Programme (WFP) staff has received two new visas, but the picture is still very patchy and extremely unsatisfying," he said.

Holmes said: "Since yesterday, the authorities had agreed that customs charges and clearances should be waived for aid delivery, but it was not clear whether that had been made fully operational on the ground."

There had been "a little bit of progress" in terms of opening roads and establishing piped water and electricity to some areas of Rangoon and more supplies continued to arrive from Thailand, Japan, China and India, he said.

Holmes said: "The border is not closed, but it simply is not anything as open as it should be."

Why Is Burma Junta Afraid of Letting Foreign Aid Workers?

In the eyes of Burma's military rulers, everyone is a potential enemy. Even foreign aid workers.

As the international community waits to deliver desperately needed aid to Burma's cyclone survivors, it is getting a lesson in the mind-set of the country's military rulers: reclusive, xenophobic generals who despise the Western world.

Six days after Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma's western coast, killing more than 22,000 people, the impoverished country's needs remain enormous. After initially pleading for urgent help, the junta now seems in no rush to welcome it.

"The military regime is extraordinarily xenophobic. They are afraid of everything," said Sean Turnell, a Burma expert at Australia's Macquarie University.

Among the junta's fears are internal uprisings, a US invasion, globalization and its capacity to dilute traditional Burmese culture. In the aftermath of Saturday's cyclone, the junta appears to be afraid of losing face with its people.

"If they can't handle the situation and they let Westerners come in with helicopters, this will demonstrate to their own people the shortcomings of the military," Turnell said. "They are more concerned with control and maintaining an omniscience in front of their people than saving lives."

Burma's Foreign Ministry indicated Friday that it wants relief supplies but not foreign aid workers in the country, saying in a statement carried in state media that the government was delivering emergency aid "with its own labor to the affected areas."

After days of stalling, the junta gave clearance Thursday for the first major international airlifts carrying aid to cyclone survivors. But it was not allowing US military planes to fly in critical relief and continued to withhold visas for several UN teams seeking entry, said Richard Horsey, a UN spokesman in neighboring Thailand.

A foreign military's presence in Burma would mark a major concession for the junta.

"They're afraid that if foreign soldiers come in they are the spearhead to overthrow the government," said Josef Silverstein, a retired Rutgers University professor who studied Burma for more than a half century. From the junta's perspective: "Aid workers could be carrying weapons to give to the people, they could give them ideas of how to overthrow the government."

Aid agencies say efforts to rush relief supplies to large-scale disasters are often slowed by red tape.

But Burma's foot dragging has a deeper, historical context.

The junta has long mistrusted the Western world stemming from more than a century of British colonial rule that ended in 1948. A parliamentary democracy survived until the ruthless dictator Gen Ne Win seized power in a 1962 coup. During his 26-year rule, Ne Win's regime curtailed human rights and political opposition and closed the country off to outsiders, earning Burma, as it was then known, the nickname the "Hermit Kingdom."

Tourists were, for the most part, not allowed in for years until the 1970s when visitors were given strict, seven-day visas.

These days, tourists get one-month visas but journalists are welcome only during carefully scripted occasions, such as the annual celebration of Armed Forces Day to commemorate the military's might.

Over the years, ruling juntas have imposed a variety of laws designed to keep Burmese culture strong and block the influence of the outside world: It is illegal for locals to hold foreign currency and to host foreigners in their homes overnight. Foreign diplomats are required to seek government permission to travel outside Rangoon, the commercial capital.

One of the junta's main foes is the United States, which has imposed economic sanctions against the generals and is a strident critic of Burma's human rights record. Washington is a regular target of contempt in Burma's state-controlled media.

US invasions of Iraq in 1991 and in 2003 reportedly spread panic among the junta and high hopes among the people.

Some analysts believe that the junta's abrupt decision in 2005 to relocate the country's capital from Rangoon to the remote city of Naypyidaw, which it carved out of dense jungle, was driven by fears of a US invasion.

On Monday, first lady Laura Bush described the junta as "very inept" on several fronts and accused leaders of failing to give citizens some lifesaving warnings about the cyclone. President George W. Bush said Tuesday that his message to military rulers was: "Let the United States come help you."

The language is not helpful, said Monique Skidmore, a Burma expert at Australian National University.

"It's actually making it a lot more difficult for the US agencies because Bush must be enraging the generals," said Skidmore.

'Eighty Thousand People Dead’; Cholera Cases Reported

(An Irrawaddy correspondent has returned from the delta area after interviewing military officers, government officials, medical personnel and survivors of Cyclone Nargis.)


An army major with the Irrawaddy Division military headquarters who asked not to be identified said on Wednesday more than 600 villages are submerged in the Irrawaddy delta along Cyclone Nargis’ deadly path.

Multimedia (View)

The worst-hit areas are Bogalay, Laputta, Mawlamyaing Gyun and Pyapon townships where, he said, more than 80,000 people have died and more than 700,000 people are homeless.

Local medical personnel said some survivors from Kyein Kyi Chaung village in Bogalay have died of cholera. Cholera has also occurred among some survivors from Laputta. The government has been transferring Laputta refugees to Myang Mya Township daily, according to an army officer.

“The cholera outbreak has begun,” said one medical worker. “People have nothing to drink so they drink water from the creeks and rivers. So that is how the outbreak began.

“These waterways are dirty because they are littered with bodies and animals. The survivors know the water is dirty, but they have no other choice and have had to drink the dirty water. That’s how they contracted cholera.

“This is the time for us to stock up on cholera medicine for the possibility of an outbreak in the near future. However, we do not have enough medicine.”

Bogalay was the hardest-hit township with the highest death toll, believed to be around 50,000 people.  The military officer said the second largest death toll was in Laputta, with Pyapon third in the number of fatalities.

“Laputta had nearly 20,000 deaths,” he said.

An army officer with Light Infantry 66 who has been involved in relief efforts said:
“A total of 142 villages went under water in Bogalay Township. The majority of the people in these villages have died. Only a few survived. For instance, Khaing Shwe Wa village in Kyun Thaya Dai Nel (village tract) had about 400 people before the cyclone; now they have only four people left. So you can say that the whole village was wiped out.”

All 50 villages in Kyun Thaya Dai Nel located between Meinmahla Kyun and Kadonkana islands southwest of Boglay are submerged. (The villages include Mi Laung Gwin, Kapanan, Yei Kyaw Gyi, Chaung Phye, Gway Chaung, Khaing Shwe Wa, Danyinphyu, inner and outer parts of Khaung Gyi Island, Buyakyaung, Hmon Tine Gyi, Hmon Tine Lay, Tayaw Chaung, Pulonetaing, Ashe-mae, Kantmalar, Chachee Island village, Thakinma Gyi, Thitpoke village, Letwel Gyi, Kyat Pyay and Thamadi).

Thirty-three villages located in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village tract about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Bogalay were wiped out, including Shwe Htoo, Lamu Oat Gyi, Lamu Oat Lay, Ma Kyin Myaing, Hlay Lone Kwe, Arr-makhan, Japan Island and Lay Gwa.

The officer from Light Infantry 66 said thousands of people were rescued in recent days from villages where the water level has gone down.

Local residents said many people have seen no relief supplies during the past six days following the disaster. People do not know where to go to seek help, and they are in desperate need of safe drinking water, food and medicine.

A government officer with the Maternal and Child Care Association serving Laputta and Pyapon said there is widespread fear of diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and cholera because of dead bodies that litter the area and unsanitary living conditions.

A resident in the Kadon village tract who has been involved in the relief effort, said: “We are using May Kha, a double-deck boat; Thuria, a long-tale boat; and local fishing boats known as jote (30-35 feet long) in our efforts to find survivors.”

Another soldier with Light Infantry 66 said, “There is not even a trace of a village left after the water has receded; they are just open, empty places now. There are thousands of decaying corpses around islands, villages and along the waterfronts. There is no one to cremate the bodies.”

A rescue worker said: “There’s a pile of dead bodies amounting to hundreds in and around Mein Ma Hla Island. The waterfront along this area is littered with bodies, carcasses of live stock, buffaloes, cupboards, furniture and other household materials. 

Thousands Dead; Burmese Leader Than Shwe in Hiding

As Burma deals with the pain of one of the greatest humanitarian disasters in recent history, one face is conspicuous by its absence— that of commander in chief of the Burmese armed forces and chairman of the ruling SPDC, Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

Than Shwe and his close aides, generals Maung Aye and Thura Shwe Mann, have all but disappeared since Cyclone Nargis hit Burma. 

People in Burma who read and watch the state-run media told The Irrawaddy that Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and other ministers are constantly featured in news reports, meeting with survivors and distributing food and water.

However, there is no sign of Than Shwe and his top two generals. As head of state, Than Shwe has not even responded to world leaders who sent messages of condolences to the people of Burma.

Than Shwe’s the last appearance in the Burmese media was Friday, May 2, the day the cyclone struck. Instead of issuing a cyclone warning, the state radio and television reported a backdated news item that Than Shwe had personally picked up Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein from the airport in Naypyidaw.  

The junta’s propaganda machine has since banned footage in the national media of monks helping survivors and providing assistance.

“I was so annoyed when I  saw a TV report showing a donation box with the name of Lt-Gen Myint Swe—a member of the ruling junta—plastered on it,” said Ko Htoo, a student in Rangoon. “This is no time for propaganda. We need accurate news on the crisis.”

UN Frustrated over Visa, Custom Delays

United Nations officials urged the Burmese government to relax—if not wave altogether—visa and custom requirements, which are preventing aid workers and humanitarian supplies from reaching the survivors of the cyclone that devastated the delta region five days ago.

At a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, John Holmes, the emergency relief coordinator of the United Nations and under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the visa issue has been taken up at the highest level in the Burmese government.

"We would like to move much faster in terms of visas and customs clearance," Holms said. In similar situations in the past, such as the Iran and Pakistan earthquakes, some of those procedures had been waived altogether, at least in the early stages, he said, adding: "This helps a lot."

UN officials are frustrated that they have not been able to move into Burma more quickly. Even the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, issued a statement urging the junta to respond to the outpouring of international support by quickly facilitating the arrival of aid workers and clearance of relief supplies.

"The UN would like it to move much faster, both in terms of visas and in terms of rapid customs clearance of goods that were already in Myanmar in some cases, or would be arriving shortly," Holms said.

Holms said that during discussions with Burmese officials, the explanation given for the delay in issuing visas was that it was a question that needed to be decided by higher authorities.
Burma has been ruled by military generals for more than 40 years and  is one of the most secretive, authoritarian and xenophobic governments in the world.

Holms said it was extremely important to get as much aid as possible, as quickly as possible, to the people who are living without safe drinking water, food and medicine, particularly in the delta area. It will be especially difficult to reach that area, because most of the roads are under water and communication with the millions of people affected by the disaster is difficult.

A small number of international staff and emergency relief workers already in Burma are attempting to move into the delta area. Normally, the military government requires international aid staff to be accompanied by Burmese minders. Holmes said that issue was also under discussion with the authorities. 

UN officials said they hope to have a small assessment team in Burma on Thursday. The team was comprised of Burmese nationals who work for the UN, and they did not require visas.
Meanwhile, a UN plane in Brindisi is being loaded with relief supplies and should arrive in Burma in the next few days, Holmes said. 

The World Food Programme is expected to have a plane in Burma on Thursday with 45 metric tons of high-energy biscuits.

Holms said things were starting to move in the "right direction."

Asked if the UN should invoke its "right to protect" mandate to force Burmese officials to accept international assistance, Holms said he did not think it would help.

"At this moment, to embark on this could be seen, at least by some people, as being on a confrontational path. The UN is having useful and constructive discussions with authorities and things are moving in the right direction, even though the UN wanted it to move faster," he said.
The Burmese government, as the sovereign authority, is in charge of the aid efforts, he said.
"What the UN is trying to do is to support the government's aid efforts as much as possible. The present situation is no different from any other disaster."

CNN: Rotting corpses pile up as Myanmar stall over aid

• Story Highlights
• NEW: Rotting corpses pile up as military junta continues to drag feet
  
• Four aid planes finally get permission to land in the devastated country
  
• Lack of clean water, food and medical supplies prompt disease fears
  
• U.N. official says nearly 2,000 square miles remains underwater

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Myanmar's cyclone survivors do not have enough fuel to burn the rotting corpses of the dead as the country's military junta continues to drag its feet over access for aid groups.

Relief agencies said decomposing corpses littered ditches and fields in the worst hit Irrawaddy delta area as survivors tried to conserve fuel for the transporting of much needed supplies.

The international community was growing increasingly frustrated Thursday with the junta's lack of progress in granting visas for relief workers and giving clearance for aid flights to land.

They were concerned the lack of medical supplies and clean food and water threatened to increase the already staggering death toll.

Myanmar's military government says more than 22,000 people died when the killer cyclone battered the country's low-lying delta region over the weekend. The top U.S. diplomat in the country said the toll could top 100,000.

Four World Food Programme (WFP) planes laden with supplies were finally given permission to land in the country Thursday, according to The Associated Press. The first, from Italy, landed Thursday morning.

"We have gotten valuable cooperation. The first steps have been taken," Bettina Luescher, a spokeswoman for the WFP, told CNN Thursday morning. "But it's taking too slow. It needs to go much quicker.

"We have lots of experience in situations like these. We know how to do this," WFP's Luescher said. "We just need the cooperation."

Paul Risley, another WFP spokesman, told CNN that there were reports of "civil unrest" in the worst-hit areas where people were scrambling for limited food supplies.

He said U.N. assessment teams had observed "large crowds gathering around shops -- the few that were open -- literally fighting over the chance to buy what food was available."

There were also reports of price gouging in urban areas around Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and former capital, Risley said.

Shari Villarosa, U.S. charge d'affaires in Yangon, said the "situation in the delta sounds more and more horrendous."

The delta region had few roads to begin with, many of them were now under water and the storm had washed away numerous bridges, Villarosa said.

Look at satellite pictures of the damage by the flooding »

CNN's Dan Rivers, one of the few international journalists to have visited the hardest-hit areas of Myanmar, said relief had not reached the people who needed it most.

"We're hearing dreadful stories of hundreds of dead bodies left lying in the fields, decomposing," he said. "These people need help immediately."

China urges Myanmar junta to 'open up'

Meanwhile, China urged close ally Myanmar to work with the international community to help overcome the disaster.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday that it hoped the country would "cooperate with the international community" to help overcome the disaster quickly.

The U.S has also been pushing for access, pledging $3.25 million and offering to send U.S. Navy ships to the region to help relief efforts.

The U.S. military had already flown six helicopters on to a Thai airbase, as Washington awaits permission to go into the south Asian country, two senior military officials told CNN's Barbara Starr.

In addition, several C-130 cargo aircraft aboard the USS Essex, which was conducting an exercise in the region, were available for relief missions.

Eric John, the U.S. ambassador to Thailand, told AP Thursday that they had still not been given permission to send relief flights to Myanmar despite reports to the contrary.

The U.S. and other nations do not recognize the military junta -- which maintained control of the country even after 1990, when an opposition political party won victory in democratic elections. The country's name was changed from Burma to Myanmar in 1989. Learn more about Myanmar's recent history »

Aid strategy: Don't 'flood' Yangon

Gregory Beck, of the International Rescue Committee, said the struggle to get aid workers and supplies into the country continued.

"We can't delay on this -- this is a huge disaster and the longer [Myanmar] waits the worse it's going to become." Watch a report from Rivers on the growing desperation in Myanmar »

Myanmar's government has asked for international aid, but the junta has balked at allowing assessment teams into the country -- a step that most agencies and countries take before deciding how much and what kind of aid to provide.

The strategy is not to "flood Yangon" with aid workers, but get 30 to 40 experienced U.N staffers into the country, according to Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"It's quality over quantity," he said from his office in Bangkok.

Horsey said Myanmar's government "is more open to goods" rather than aid workers, but said it was understandable considering the military regime's "reticence to engage with the international community." But he pointed out that such a major disaster "would overwhelm any government."

Horsey said the regime had provided a number of helicopters and a larger number of boats to the relief effort.

He said the main hurdle was getting them into the flood-soaked delta, where nearly 2,000 square miles (5,000 square kilometers) remained underwater.

"When vast areas are flooded.. helicopters can't land," Horsey said. "When you get down to the tip of the delta, it's not much above sea level. When you get a major storm surge ... it doesn't drain back again."

The problem, he said, was compounded by the current monsoon period in South Asia.

One of the hardest-hit areas is Pyinzalu, a small town on the tip of the Irrawaddy delta, which has not fully recovered from the 2004 tsunami, according to World Vision health advisor Dr. Kyi Minn in Yangon.

Survivors from the delta villages described bodies along the road and floating in the rivers as they walked more than 100 kilometers to Yangon. That, Minn said, has had a significant mental impact on the survivors.

Yangon was pretty much back to normal, he said. Roads had been cleared of debris, and electricity and potable water were available. Watch a report on the damage to Myanmar's infrastructure »

World Vision, which has 500 aid workers in Myanmar, has provided aid in the country for more than 40 years. In a rare move, Myanmar's junta specifically asked World Vision to help provide aid to cyclone survivors.

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U.S. envoy: Myanmar deaths may top 100000

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the cyclone that ravaged the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar may exceed 100,000, the senior U.S. diplomat in the military-ruled country said Wednesday.

A girl drinks water from a container as her homeless family eat donated food in the outskirts of Yangon on May 7.

"The information we are receiving indicates over 100,000 deaths," said the U.S. charge d'affaires in Yangon, Shari Villarosa.

The U.S. figure is almost five times the 22,000 the Myanmar government has estimated.

The U.S. estimate is based on data from an international non-governmental organization, Villarosa said without naming the group. She called the situation in Myanmar "more and more horrendous."

"I think most of the damage was caused by these 12-foot storm surges," she said.

Villarosa also said that about 95 percent of the buildings in the delta region were destroyed when Cyclone Nargis battered the area late Friday into Saturday.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice once again called on the junta to allow aid into the country and said she is speaking with leaders from other nations who may be able to help persuade Myanmar's leaders to do so.

"It should be a simple matter," Rice said. "This is not a matter of politics; this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis, and it should be a matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the help that is available to them, and so we are speaking with governments that might have influence with Burma."

Myanmar is also known as Burma.

The United States has pledged $3.25 million and offered to send Navy ships to the region to help relief efforts -- if Myanmar's government agrees.

The U.S. military has flown six cargo helicopters onto a Thai airbase as Washington awaits permission to go into the south Asian country, two senior military officials told CNN's Barbara Starr.

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Villarosa said 70,000 people are missing in the Irrawaddy Delta, which has a population of nearly 6 million people. The official Myanmar government figure for the missing is 41,000.

"I can only assume that the longer the delay, the more victims that are created," Villarosa said.

Little aid has reached the area since Nargis hit, and on Wednesday, crowds of hungry survivors stormed reopened shops in the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

The United Nations urged the military junta to grant visas to international relief workers amid estimates of 1 million homeless.

A United Nations official said that nearly 2,000 square miles (5,000 square km) of the hard-hit delta are still underwater. See amateur video of the cyclone's crashing ashore »

Charity workers have gathered at Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, with vehicles, emergency food supplies and medicine, waiting for their visa requests to be approved.

"We need this to move much faster," said John Holmes, U.N. humanitarian chief, after reading a statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

There were reports of "civil unrest" in the worst-hit areas where people are scrambling for limited food supplies, a U.N. spokesman said.

In the flood-soaked Irrawaddy delta townships, U.N. assessment teams observed "large crowds gathering around shops -- the few that were open -- literally fighting over the chance to buy what food was available," World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said Wednesday from Bangkok.

There were also also reports of price gouging in urban areas around Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and former capital.

"There were long lines of people trying to buy what food was available, even at those higher prices," Risley said.

The delta, Myanmar's rice-growing heartland, has been devastated by Cyclone Nargis, threatening long-term food shortages for survivors, experts said.

"We can't delay on this; this is a huge disaster, and the longer [Myanmar] waits, the worse it's going to become," International Rescue Committee spokesman Gregory Beck said.

The Rome, Italy-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that five states hit hardest by Saturday's cyclone produce 65 percent of the country's rice, The Associated Press reported.

"There is likely going to be incredible shortages in the next 18 to 24 months," Sean Turnell, an economist specializing in Myanmar at Australia's Macquarie University, told AP.

Holmes said 24 countries had pledged financial support, with a total of $30 million expected in aid.

The WFP, which has started feeding the estimated million homeless, said there were immediate concerns about salvaging harvested rice in the flooded Irrawaddy delta. An iReporter documents the destruction »

The cyclone battered the country with winds of 240 kph (150 mph) and 3.5-meter (11.48 feet) storm surges.

Damage was also extensive in the country's largest city, Yangon. Much of the former capital is without power and littered with debris and fallen trees. See photos of the destruction »

CNN's Dan Rivers, the first Western journalist into the devastated town of Bogalay, said Wednesday that it was difficult to find the words to describe the level of destruction. Watch Rivers describe the critical situation »

"Ninety percent of the houses have been flattened. ... The help that these people are getting seems to be pretty much nonexistent, from what we've seen."

He saw members of Myanmar's army clearing roads but handing out little food or medicine.

"There has been scant help, really. I think we saw one or two Red Cross vehicles in the entire time we were driving," Rivers said of his travels over a 12-hour period. Learn more about Myanmar »

Hundreds of World Vision staff are in Myanmar with limited supplies, according to spokesman James East.

Tons of supplies have been readied in Dubai and can be brought in quickly once clearance is given.

"Even when aid comes in, it's going to be a logistical nightmare to get it out to the remote delta region," East said.

However, Yangon is almost back to normal, World Vision health adviser Dr. Kyi Minn said. Roads have been cleared of debris, and electricity and potable water are available.

The Myanmar Red Cross has been handing out relief supplies, such as drinking water, plastic sheeting, clothing, insecticide- treated bed nets to help prevent malaria, and kitchen items, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Other countries and world bodies offering help include Britain, Japan, the European Union, China, India, Thailand, Australia, Canada and Bangladesh have also pitched in.

Based on a satellite map made available by the U.N., the storm's damage was concentrated over a 30,000-square- kilometer area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines, home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's 57 million people.

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Survivors in Burma Delta Still Waiting for Aid

Survivors of the cyclone and tidal wave that hit Laputta Township are still waiting for aid some five days later. They have no food or water, no electricity or telephone lines and many have reportedly died from injuries and lack of water in the aftermath of the storm.

Aye Kyu, a Laputta resident who managed to get to Rangoon by road on Tuesday told The Irrawaddy that half of Laputta Township—specifically the coastal area—was completely flooded and he estimated that tens of thousands of people in Laputta have already died.

An activist holds a placard during a rally outside the building housing the Burmese Embassy in Makati City, Metro Manila May 7. (Photo: Reuters)

Aye Kyu said that even survivors were dying for lack of food and water. Two days after the storm hit the Laputta Township in Irrawaddy Division, there were nothing to eat or drink, he said.  

He said that many villagers from outlying areas had traveled to Laputta town in the hope of finding food, water and shelter. Aye Kyu said, “Many survivors are now in Laputta town. Toilets are overflowing. If aid does not arrive soon, people will starve to death.”
Many houses in the lower part of Laputta Township were hit by a huge tidal wave which destroyed everything in its path. Many people were killed immediately by the wave, he said.

 “Some people tried to escape by sitting on the top of their roofs,” Aye Kyu said. “But the tidal hit them and pulled them into the sea.” 

A flooded village is seen from this aerial photographed over Myanmar May 6. (Nation/ Reuters)

Survivors who have arrived in Laputta town are being assisted by youths and students. Some villagers are being sheltered at local monasteries and schools and some have been fed boiled rice, he said, adding that some soldiers have also arrived in Laputta town and joined the relief effort.

  “I beg both the government and international agencies to get emergency aid to Laputta as soon as possible,” said Aye Kyu.
There were some 200,000 people living in Laputta Township, which is located at the southwestern point of the Irrawaddy delta. 

Meanwhile, state radio in Burma reported that at least 10,000 people have been killed in Bogalay town in Irrawaddy Division, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Laputta on the southern coast. The report said 95 percent of the town had been destroyed.
“Almost every house in Bogalay were completely leveled and the rooftops were blown away,” said a resident.

A survivor in Mondine Gyi village in lower Bogalay Township said, “The tidal wave hit my house and totally submerged it. I saw bodies floating by while I held onto a piece of wood. My wife and children are still missing,” he added. 

In another town in the Irrawaddy delta, Maubin, thousands of rice paddies and fields of corn, bananas, chilis and other crops were destroyed. Local farmers estimated their losses to be in the hundreds of thousands of kyat. Sources said that no emergency assistance had reached the affected areas to date.  

Meanwhile, eight villages in a town in Irrawaddy delta called Dedaye, some 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Rangoon were totally destroyed.   

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Wednesday, an eyewitness said, “Dead bodies are floating in the lake. There is no food or drinking water. It has been four days but still no emergency aid has arrived.”   
  
Meanwhile, a statement released by Burma’s main opposition group, the National League for Democracy on Tuesday said that the death toll could be more than 100,000. 
 
The statement also condemned that military regime for ignoring the plight of cyclone victims and trying to push ahead with the national referendum on May 10.    

The Burmese military government has announced that some 22,500 people have killed to date while 41,000 are still missing. An estimated 1.7 million people have been left homeless.

Visa Formalities Holding Up UN Team

Burmese visa formalities are holding up UN efforts to rush emergency aid to victims of Saturday’s disastrous cyclone, a UN official said in New York.

A UN “disaster assessment” team and a group of experts was waiting in Bangkok, capital of neighboring Thailand, for clearance to travel to Burma, said Rashid Khalikov, director of the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) in New York.

"We hope that the [Burmese] Government would understand the requirements of international assistance, in terms of easing up regulations for visa applications, as well as for relief supplies to cross the customs borders of the country," Khalikov told reporters.

The issue of visas and the smooth transportation of relief aid had been taken up at the highest level, Khalikov said. There had been a meeting with the Burmese Ambassador to the UN, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had written to junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

The Burmese government was being urged to “change and adapt” regulations governing the movement of UN staff to meet the current emergency, Khalikov said.

The OCHA also announced that the UN has made available an initial sum of US $5 million from its central emergency relief fund to finance emergency relief.

UNICEF field staff in Burma had started delivering emergency supplies to stricken areas of the Irrawaddy delta, a UN spokesman said. Laputta Township, where thousands died, had been supplied with essential drugs, first-aid kits and oral rehydration tablets.

Khalikov said the UN country team in Burma had reported a critical need for food, water purification and cooking equipment, mosquito nets, emergency health kits and plastic sheeting.

The OCHA estimated that hundreds of thousands of people needed help, he said.

Deadly Cyclone Poses Political Threat to Burma Ruling Generals

Detailed story, please read HERE

The deadly cyclone that ripped into Burma over the weekend could shake the stranglehold on power of the country's ruling generals—becoming a force for change more powerful than massive pro-democracy demonstrations and international sanctions.

Natural disasters by themselves are unlikely to trigger change, but instead tend to help undermine already corrupt or failing systems.

Few people think revolution is in the air in Burma—not while the victims are still burying their dead, now totaling 22,000 and climbing.

But by an unusual accident of timing, the cyclone ripped through the country on Saturday, just a week before the May 10 referendum on a proposed constitution that the military hoped would go smoothly in its favor, despite opposition from the country's feisty pro-democracy movement.
The vote now gives people a rare and relatively safe way to express their discontent with the country's junta.

The higher the death toll climbs—and the less effective the government's relief efforts prove—the bigger the potential for undermining the military's mandate to rule.

Already, in a society that is notably superstitious, the bad aura surrounding the tragedy has attached itself to the junta.

"The juxtaposition of the cyclone and the voting might cause many in Burma [Myanmar] to feel this is an indication that the military should not be in power," said David Steinberg, a Burma expert at Georgetown University, referring to the country by its old name.

He said traditional views in some parts of Asia consider rulers as responsible for natural conditions. If disaster struck, a government could be considered to have lost its "mandate of heaven."
The Burmese military has long ruled by fear, especially since 1988 when thousands were killed when the army quashed massive pro-democracy demonstrations.

The lesson was reinforced last year, when new pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks were suppressed by force, with at least 31 people killed and thousands arrested.

"I have been struck (by) ... how open many in Burma have been in contrasting the regime's rapid and in-force response to the events of last year, and their all-too-typical laggardly and underwhelming response to disasters such as this," said Sean Turnell, an economist specializing in Burma at Australia's Macquarie University.

"Responding to natural disasters is precisely the sort of thing 'real' armies do well elsewhere, but never in Burma," he said.

While the military and other government authorities kept a low profile Monday in Rangoon's storm-battered streets, civilians and Buddhist monks banded together, wielding axes and knives to clear roads of tree trunks and branches torn off by the cyclone’s 190 kph (120 mph) winds.
"Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?" said one man, who refused to be identified for fear of retribution. "They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity."

Burmese people will likely remember who came out to help them in their time of need.
"If Buddhist monks have mobilized to provide assistance, as often happens in Asian countries, the contrast in response will further work to undermine whatever credibility the junta has left," said Ben Wisner, a disaster and urban affairs expert at Oberlin University.

The need for a massive relief effort poses a dilemma for the junta: how much assistance to accept from abroad.

Allowing any major influx of foreigners could carry risks for the military, injecting unwanted outside influence and giving the aid givers rather than the junta credit for a recovery.
However, keeping out international aid would focus blame squarely on the military should it fail to restore people’s livelihoods.

The most extreme change could come within the military itself.
The cyclone's aftermath, said Turnell, "may also just present an opportunity for more moderate, rational people in the military to assume greater control."

If the relief effort discredits the current leadership, said Josef Silverstein, a Burma expert formerly with Rutgers University, younger officers could take the opportunity to make a bid for power.
"With the devastating sudden impact of natural disasters, there tends to be a huge anger from the public for the inadequacies of the state to respond to the needs of disaster- affected people," said Dr. Alpaslan Ozerdem of the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit of the University of York.

"Consequently, the image of the state as a paternal figure—a heavy-handed protector—collapses spectacularly," he said. 

Please Donate to Cyclone Victims in Burma

UN Aid Has Yet to Reach Burma

Burma’s neighbors, including Thailand and India, have begun sending aid to the country in the wake of a devastating cyclone that struck on Saturday, but the United Nations has so far been unable to respond with the massive aid that it has vowed to provide.
One reason for the delay is that UN relief workers, who will assess the extent of the damage inflicted by Cyclone Nargis, are still waiting for Burma’s military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), to issue visas so they may enter the country. 

Supplies for victims of a devastating cyclone in Burma wait to be loaded into a Thai military transport plane at the military airport in Bangkok. (Photo: AP)

The UN started preparations on Monday to send the promised aid as soon as possible and said it plans to immediately begin airlifting relief material and life-saving drugs to the region.

The decision was taken following a meeting between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, and Burma’s UN ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe, on Monday afternoon.

During the meeting, the Burmese ambassador confirmed that his government had requested assistance to meet the needs of the cyclone’s victims, a spokesperson for the secretary-general said.
Given the gravity of the situation in Burma, the ambassador emphasized the need to immediately receive relief supplies, the spokesperson added.

During the meeting, Nambiar and Kyaw Tint Swe discussed the possibility of an urgent grant allocation by the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), as well as communications and coordination support to facilitate the delivery of assistance.

The CERF is used to fund sudden onset, rapidly deteriorating and under-funded humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters.

“I am ready to allocate a significant amount from the CERF as the most urgent needs become clear,” said UN Undersecretary-General John Holmes on Tuesday.

As an immediate measure, it is likely that UN planes already in other countries in the region, such as Nepal and Timor, could be used to airlift relief material. Other UN agencies and humanitarian relief agencies in the region have also been alerted for this purpose.

Meanwhile, aid from neighboring countries is beginning to flow into Burma. A military plane carrying supplies from Bangkok arrived today, and the India government has sent two navy ships loaded with rice, medicine, tents and other essentials for the cyclone’s victims. A spokesperson for the International Red Cross, which has already begun providing assistance from within the country, said more was on the way from Malaysia.

Other countries, including the US, the UK, Norway, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Japan, are also lining up to offer aid to Burma.

“We can say that the international relief effort is gearing up quickly and it is now a question of working on the logistics and getting the channels of distribution,” said Richard Horsey, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“The Myanmar [Burma] government authorities have called for international assistance, but the question is the practicalities,” he said.

Moving goods and vehicles will be the main challenge, he said, because floods have caused extensive damage to roads from Rangoon to remote areas of the Irrawaddy Delta that were hardest hit.

As some of the staunchest critics of Burma’s military regime step forward with offers of aid, the secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Surin Pitsuwan, appealed to member states of the regional grouping on Tuesday to offer “generous” aid to Burma.

The Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), a group which is often critical of Asean’s stance on Burma, released a statement urging leaders in the region to ensure that the country’s military leaders cooperate fully with international aid agencies.

“When disasters hit, there cannot be any tolerance or patience for political maneuvering. The United Nations and Asean must act immediately without fear or favor and carry out their humanitarian obligation to the people of Burma,” said AIPMC President Kraisak Choonhavan, who also called on Asean dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea to offer aid to Burma.

On Tuesday, the Burmese regime’s closest international ally, China, pledged to provide US $1 million in cash and relief supplies to Burma. 

Burma Death Toll Climbs Past 22,500

Detailed story, please read HERE

At least 22,500 people died in the Burma cyclone and the toll is likely to rise rapidly as officials make contact with the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta areas, military officials said on Tuesday.
Officials said 41,054 people are missing and up to 1 million people are homeless.
Nyan Win said on state television that 10,000 people had died in just one town, Bogalay, as he gave the first detailed account of what is emerging as the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.

Residents queue to get drinking water in Rangoon. The US is providing aid to cyclone-ravaged Burma through its embassy in Rangoon and is looking at what more it can do to help, the White House said Monday. (Photo: AFP)

The total left homeless by the 190 km (120 miles) per hour winds and 12-foot (3.5 metres) storm surge is 1 million, United Nations aid officials say, and could run into the millions.

  “More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself,” Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told a news conference in the devastated former capital, Rangoon, where food and water supplies are running low.
“The wave was up to 12 feet (3.5 metres) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages,” he said, giving the first detailed description of the weekend cyclone. “They did not have anywhere to flee.”

It is the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.
However, Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said the military were “doing their best”, but analysts said there could be political fallout for military rulers of the former Burma who pride themselves on their ability to cope with any challenge.

“The myth they have projected about being well-prepared has been totally blown away,” said political analyst Aung Naing Oo, who fled to Thailand after a brutally crushed 1988 uprising. “This could have a tremendous political impact in the long term.”

Earlier, Foreign Minister Nyan Win said on state television that 10,000 people had died just in Bogalay, a town 90 kilometres southwest of Rangoon.

The Information Minister said the government had sufficient stocks of rice despite damage to grain stored in the huge delta, known as the “rice bowl of Asia” 50 years ago when Burma was the world's largest rice exporter.

After a meeting with Burmese ambassador to Bangkok, Thai Foreign Minister Noppadol Pattama said he had been told 30,000 people were missing after cyclone Nargis.
“The losses have been much greater than we anticipated,” he said. Ambassador Ye Win declined to speak to reporters.

The total left homeless by the 190-kilometre-an-hour winds and storm surge is in the several hundred thousands, United Nations aid officials say.

The disaster drew a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Bernard Delpuech, a European Union aid official in Rangoon, said the junta had sent three ships carrying food to the delta region, the rice bowl for Burma’s 53 million people. Nearly half the population lives in the five disaster-hit divisions.

Aid agency World Vision in Australia said it had been granted special visas to send in personnel to back up 600 staff in the impoverished Southeast Asian country.

"This is massive. It is not necessarily quite tsunami level, but in terms of impact of millions displaced, thousands dead, it is just terrible," said World Vision Australia head Tim Costello.
"Organizations like ours have been given permission, which is pretty unprecedented, to fly people in. This shows how grave it is in the Burmese government's mind," he said.

The town-by-town list of dead and missing announced by Nyan Win showed 14,859 deaths in the Irrawaddy Division and 59 in Rangoon, the largest city of 5million and the former capital.
The hardest-hit area was the Irrawaddy region where about 10,000 people died in Bogalay, 90 kms (55 miles) southwest of Rangoon.

In Rangoon, people were queuing up for bottled water and there was still no electricity four days after Cyclone Nargis struck.

"Generators are selling very well under the generals," said one man waiting outside a shop, reflecting some of the resentment on the streets to what many described as a slow warning and response.

Very few soldiers were seen clearing debris and trees, except at major intersections, residents in the former capital said. 

BADA appeals for donations to help the Cyclone Victims in Burma

BADA works to help the Cyclone Victims in Burma

Donate Now, www.badasf.org

May 5, 2008: Amid the devastation of Cyclone Nargis and a death toll quickly climbing over 15000, the Burmese American Democratic Alliance (BADA) today appeals to the United Nations, the United States and the international community to act quickly to stop the death count from rising any further and to help ease the suffering in Burma. Concerned individuals can help the victims by making a donations on www.badasf.org, all proceeds earmarked for cyclone victims will be used only for that purpose. Many of these cyclone victims were already a victim of 46 years of brutal military oppression, struggling to live hand to mouth.

Your support will be given to those who are in need. Your donations are tax deductible, and to make a donation now, please click this link, www.badasf.org

Nearly 4,000 People Dead; 3,000 People Missing in Burma

Officials said on Monday nearly 4,000 people died in the wake of cyclone Nargis which swept through Burma on Saturday. An estimated 3,000 people are missing. Several hundred thousand of people may be homeless throughout the Irrawaddy delta.

Residents of Burma's biggest city, Rangoon, face the third day of severe shortages of water, power and other essentials as they battle to clean up after the disastrous cyclone.
Older citizens said they had never seen Rangoon, a city of some 6.5 million, so devastated in their lifetimes.

Residents rebuild their house after cyclone Nargis on the outskirts of Rangoon on May 4. At least 351 people were killed and nearly 100,000 left homeless when tropical cyclone Nargis tore through Burma, razing thousands of buildings and knocking out power lines, state media said. (Photo: AFP)

Despite the havoc wreaked by tropical cyclone Nargis across wide swathes of the Southeast Asian country on Saturday, the government indicated that a referendum on the country's draft constitution would proceed as planned on May 10.

  "It's only a few days left before the coming referendum and people are eager to cast their vote," the state-owned Burmese language newspaper Myanma Ahlin said on Monday.

Pro-democracy groups in the country and many international critics have branded the constitution as merely a tool for the military's continued grip on power.

Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box.
Some in Rangoon complained that the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help victims after Saturday's storm, only clearing streets where the ruling elite resided but leaving residents to cope on their own in most other areas.

Residents, as well as Buddhist monks from the city's many monasteries, banded together on Monday, wielding axes and knives to clear roads of tree trunks and branches torn off by the cyclone’s 190 kph (120 mph) winds.

With the city's already unstable electricity supply virtually nonfunctional, citizens lined up to buy candles, which doubled in price, as well as water as a lack of electricity-driven pumps left most households dry. Some walked to the city's lakes to wash.

Cyclone Nargis knocked out Rangoon’s municipal water supply, forcing residents to rely on backyard wells. (Photo: AFP)

Hotels and richer families were using private generators but only sparingly, given the soaring price of fuel.

  Public transport was almost at a standstill although airlines announced that Rangoon's international airport had reopened for foreign and domestic flights on Monday.

Most telephone landlines, mobile phones and Internet connections were down.

With the city plunged into almost total darkness overnight, security concerns mounted, and many shops sold their goods through partially opened doors or iron grills.

At least 351 people were killed, including 162 who lived on Haing Gyi island off the country's southwest coast, military-run Myaddy television station reported. Many of the others died in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta.

"The Irrawaddy delta was hit extremely hard not only because of the wind and rain but because of the storm surge," said Chris Kaye, the UN's acting humanitarian coordinator in Rangoon. "The villages there have reportedly been completely flattened."

State television reported that in the Irrawaddy's Labutta township, 75 percent of the buildings had collapsed.

The UN planned to send teams on Monday to assess the damage, Kaye said. Initial assessment efforts had been hampered by roads clogged with debris and downed phone lines, he added.
The Forum for Democracy in Burma and other dissident groups outside Burma urged the military junta on Sunday to allow aid groups to operate freely in the wake of the cyclone.