Cyclone aid waits in Thailand as death toll soars

Delays in granting visas to international relief organisations wanting to enter Burma are likely to push the huge death toll from Cyclone Nargis to new heights, according to UN officials in Bangkok, writes Edward Loxton for The First Post.

Burma’s official death toll stands at 22,500, while more than 40,000 people are officially listed as missing. But residents of one Irrawaddy delta city, Laputta, say at least one-third of the 300,000 population were swept away when the tidal wave caused by the cyclone pounded the area before dawn on Saturday. "Children and old people had no chance," said one resident.

A UNICEF team that managed to travel deep into the Laputta area reported seeing piles of corpses lying by the roadsides and in the devastated rice paddies. Correspondents for the Democratic Voice of Burma reported from the region today that there was little sign there of international relief teams.

An official of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today that unless aid rapidly reached the region there was real danger of malaria and cholera epidemics. A coordination team of UN officials and experts was still waiting in Bangkok for clearance to enter Burma, he complained.

Aid from Burma's neighbours, including China, is arriving unhindered by air at Rangoon. However, an offer by President Bush to send ships from a section of the American Pacific fleet to Rangoon with food, medicines and technical equipment was greeted with derision by Burmese junta officials.

The ships, now standing off the coast of Thailand, include an aircraft carrier. "That's the last thing the junta want to see in Burmese waters," said commentator Swe Hlaing.

FIRST POSTED MAY 7, 2008