Current update!

YANGON, Myanmar:  International Herald Tribune More than six weeks have passed since Cyclone Nargis swept through the Irrawaddy Delta in southern Myanmar, leaving a trail of flattened villages and broken lives and arousing international sympathy that turned to anguish as the military government obstructed foreign aid. Now doctors and aid workers who have gained access to remote areas of the delta are returning with a less pessimistic picture of the human cost of the delay in reaching survivors. They say there have been no signs of starvation or widespread outbreaks of disease, and the number of lives lost because of the military government's slow response to the disaster appears to have been very few. Relief workers here continue to criticize the government's secretive posture and obsession with security, its restrictions on foreign aid experts and the weeks of dawdling that left bloated bodies befouling waterways and survivors marooned with little food and supplies. But the specific character of Cyclone Nargis, the hardiness of villagers and efforts by private citizens to offer assistance mitigated against further death and sickness, aid workers say. The storm that struck the night of May 2 and 3 killed great numbers of people, probably upward of 130,000, most of whom drowned in a tidal surge. "We saw very, very few serious injuries," said Frank Smithuis, head of mission in Myanmar for Médecins Sans Frontières, a medical charity with a large presence in the country. "You were dead or you were in O.K. shape." When the cyclone blew through the low-lying delta it swept away bamboo huts and in the hardest-hit villages left almost no trace of habitation. Survivors who stayed afloat during the storm sometimes found themselves many kilometers from their homes when the waters receded. But unlike other natural disasters such as the recent earthquake in China, survivors were less likely to be injured by falling bricks, furniture, masonry or other heavy objects. This, say doctors, aid workers and diplomats, appears to be the primary explanation why villagers were able to stay alive for weeks without any assistance. As they awaited aid, survivors, most of whom were fishermen and farmers, lived off of coconuts, rotten rice and fish. "The Burmese people are used to getting nothing. They just did the best they could," said Shari Villarosa, the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. "I'm not getting the sense that there have been a lot of deaths as a result of the delay." Aid workers stress that of the estimated 2.4 million survivors affected by the storm thousands remain vulnerable to sickness and many are still without adequate food, shelter and supplies. But their ailments remain - for now - minor. Medical logs from Médecins Sans Frontières show that of the 30,000 patients they treated in the six weeks after the cyclone most had flesh wounds, diarrhea or respiratory infections. The number of people killed in the storm may never be known. The government has not updated its death toll since May 16, when it said 77,738 people were killed and 55,917 were missing. In a country that has not had a full census in decades, it is not even certain how many people lived in the area before the storm. Itinerant laborers who worked in the salt marshes and shrimp farms were probably not counted among the dead, aid workers say. What is known is that in many villages women and children died in disproportionate numbers, said Osamu Kunii, chief of the health and nutrition section of the United Nations Children's Fund in Myanmar.

Funding Short

UN's Myanmar appeal only 44 percent funded 1 day ago YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The United Nations says it has raised less than half of its goal for relief operations in Myanmar more than five weeks after a cyclone devastated the country. The U.N. says it set out to raise $201 million but so far has gotten just $113 million from donors. The U.N. says areas like economic recovery and health have been well funded, but emergency food operations and logistics have received only about 20 percent of the funding they need. Education has received nothing. Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the U.N. relief operations, says she expects funding will increase after results from a needs assessment in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta is finished June 20. The U.N. estimates the cyclone affected 2.4 million people. The government says at least 78,000 people died.

100,000 may have died in Myanmar cyclone May 7, 2008 YANGON, Myanmar —Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said Wednesday that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone. Hungry crowds stormed the few shops that opened in the country's stricken Irrawaddy delta, sparking fist fights, according to Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in neighboring Thailand. Shari Villarosa, who heads the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, said food and water are running short in the delta area and called the situation there "increasingly horrendous."   "There is a very real risk of disease outbreaks as long as this continues," Villarosa told reporters. State media in Myanmar, also known as Burma, reported that nearly 23,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis blasted the country's western coast on Saturday and more than 42,000 others were missing. U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said Thursday that the cyclone's death toll may rise "very significantly." The military junta normally restricts the access of foreign officials and organizations to the country, and aid groups were struggling to deliver relief goods. Internal U.N. documents obtained by The Associated Press showed growing frustrations at foot-dragging by the junta, which has kept the impoverished nation isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control. "Visas are still a problem. It is not clear when it will be sorted out," according to the minutes of a meeting of the U.N. task force coordinating relief for Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar's government to speed up the arrival of aid workers and relief supplies "in every way possible." State television in military-ruled Myanmar, though, said that the government would accept aid from any country and that help had arrived Wednesday from Japan, Bangladesh, Laos, Thailand, China, India and Singapore. Local aid workers started distributing water purification tablets, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting and basic medical supplies. But heavily flooded areas were accessible only by boat, with helicopters unable to deliver relief supplies there, said Richard Horsey, Bangkok-based spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid. "Most urgent need is food and water," said Andrew Kirkwood, head of Save the Children in Yangon. "Many people are getting sick. The whole place is under salt water and there is nothing to drink. They can't use tablets to purify salt water," he said. Save the Children distributed food, plastic sheeting, cooking utensils and chlorine tablets to 230,000 people in Yangon area. Trucks were sent to the delta on Wednesday, carrying rice, salt, sugar and tarpaulin. A Yangon resident who returned home from the area said people are drinking coconut water because of lack of safe drinking water. He said many people were on boats using blankets as sails.

Day After:Myanmar cyclone toll soars to 4,000! Cyclone toll could hit 10,000! Please pray for our missionaries in Mayanmar, where we have 32 children under the age of 10, help support our people in their work, to aid those around them and continue the care at the "Agape Children's Home." click here to: Act today to help those in Mayanmar The government says 4,000 have been killed and aid groups say the toll is likely to climb!   At least 4,000 people are now believed to have been killed and about 3,000 more are missing after cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, the country's state media has reported. The death toll from the cyclone that hit over the weekend has officially reached 3,969 but with so many people missing is expected to rise, state television said on Monday. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and without clean drinking water, a UN official has said and aid agencies have called on Myanmar's military government to allow free movement so help can be given to victims of the deadly storm.  The reports came after the government earlier put the death toll at around 350.  The UN says the government has not responded to its offer to help after the storm destroyed communities and left thousands of people homeless. UN disaster experts said it could be days before the extent of the damage is known because of the government's tight control of communications.

Call for access The UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said that the government - which has indicated it will press ahead with a referendum on a new constitution on Saturday - was "having as much trouble as anyone else in getting a full overview" of the destruction.  "Roads are not accessible and many small villages were hit and will take time to reach," Terje Skavdal, the regional head of UNOCHA, said. Cyclone Nargis wreaks havoc in Myanmar Teams of foreign aid workers were trying to assess the damage and aid needs, but their access and movements are restricted by the military. "That is the existing situation for international staff. The way most agencies work is they use national staff who have more freedom to move," Skavdal said. "We will have a dialogue with the government to try to get access to the people affected," he added.

A plea for aid! We are praying the military government to allow aid groups unfettered access to the country. "International expertise in dealing with natural disasters is urgently required," said Naing Aung, secretary-general of the Thailand-based group. "The military regime is ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone." The government has declared the former capital of Yangon a disaster area after the storm's 190kph winds blew roofs off hospitals and cut off electricity supply. Yangon, the Irrawaddy Delta, Bago as well as the Karen and Mon states were heavily damaged and have been declared disaster areas. State-controlled television reported that 20,000 homes had been destroyed on Haingyi, an island in the Andaman sea. A further 90,000 people on the island, the first part of the country to be hit by the cyclone, were left homeless, the government said.