 |
|
Children eat at a temporary feeding centre run by local villagers near Kundangon, Myanmar
|
May 12, 2008, 06:15
The United States was set to fly relief supplies today to Myanmar, a country it has called an "outpost of tyranny", as aid continues to dribble into the reclusive state nine days after a devastating cyclone. A US Air Force C-130 military transport plane was scheduled to take off from an air base on the Thai-Myanmar border carrying water purification systems and supplies to ward off water-borne diseases, US officials said.
Agencies report that aid deliveries to more than a million increasingly desperate cyclone victims have been minimal. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said yesterday three cargo planes from Europe carrying medical material and other supplies was scheduled to arrive in Myanmar today. "More than one week after the disaster, despite the sending of three cargo planes and some positive signals, it has been very difficult to provide highly needed supplies for the heavily affected population in Myanmar," MSF said in a statement.
"In the areas where we have been, we have not seen any aid being delivered so far, so the amount that has reached people in the areas where we are had been minimal," MSF said. MSF had a large presence in Myanmar before the cyclone.
220 000 reported missing
While Myanmar's reclusive military government is accepting aid from the outside world, including the United Nations, it will not let in foreign logistics teams, who were queuing up in Bangkok hoping to get visas from the Myanmar embassy. The UN humanitarian agency said in a new assessment yesterday that between 1.2 million and 1.9 million were struggling to survive in the aftermath of the storm that struck nine days ago.
"Given the gravity of the situation including the lack of food and water, some partners have reported fears for security, and violent behaviour in the most severely afflicted areas," the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. It said "the number of deaths could range from 63 290 to 101 682 and 220 000 people are reported to be missing". It said "acute environmental issues" posed a threat to life and health.
One cup of rice a day
In the delta town of Labutta, where 80% of homes were destroyed, authorities were providing one cup of rice per family per day, a European Commission aid official told Reuters. In a blow to the stumbling relief effort a boat carrying some of the first aid to survivors sank, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
The boat was believed to have hit a submerged tree in the Irrawaddy delta. The accident highlighted the enormous logistical difficulties of delivering aid, with roads washed away and much of the delta turned to swamp.
Myanmar raised the death toll yesterday to 28 458 dead and 33 416 missing from the storm on the night of May 2 and early on May 3. Most of the victims were killed by the 3.5 m wall of sea-water that hit the delta along with the Category 4 cyclone's 190 kph winds. - Reuters
|
|
