More than 10,000 people are feared dead, and "several hundreds of thousands" have been left homeless by a tropical cyclone in southwestern Burma, a United Nations relief official has told CBC News. -
The authorities in Burma, also known as Myanmar, are struggling to assess damage and casualties in the wake of Saturday's Cyclone Nargis, said Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the UN's disaster response office in Bangkok. The cyclone came ashore in the delta of the Irrawaddy River, the country's most heavily populated region.
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The Burmese foreign minister, Nyan Win, confirmed that the authorities are still waiting for reports from outlying areas and are expecting the death toll to surpass 10,000 people.
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The former capital, Rangoon, has also been hard hit, Horsey said.
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He said the normally reclusive Burmese military junta was in talks with international agencies to discuss aid requirements and how to get help to the worst affected areas. The UN has been invited to send aid and expert help, say news agency reports from Rangoon.
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With several hundred thousand people homeless, Horsey said, the most immediate needs will be clean drinking water, food, medicine and materials for repairing houses or sheltering people whose homes have been devastated.
Food shortages a concern
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Freelance journalist Andrew Chant, talking to CBC News from Bangkok, said most of the casualties are in the densely populated rice-growing areas in the Irrawaddy River delta around Rangoon.
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"People there live along rivers and streams," Chant said, "and they'll have experienced a double hit from both the winds and rising waters." There is rising concern that extensive damage to rice paddies could lead to food shortages all over the country, he said.
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Workers from several international aid agencies have been travelling in Rangoon and outside the city to discover how much aid is needed, and where help is needed most.
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James East of the relief organization World Vision said assessment teams from his organization were having trouble getting out of the city because of blocked, flooded and damaged roads.
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"Our people are saying they haven't seen anything like it," East told CBC news.
Size of disaster still unknown: official
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Telecommunications have also been cut with many areas, according to Michael Annear of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Bangkok.
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"Widespread destruction is obviously making it more difficult to get aid to people who need it most, " Annear said.
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In Rangoon, people huddled in darkened rooms and stood in line to buy candles and cooking gas as the city's already unreliable electricity supply remained severely disrupted. Winds approaching 160 km/h blew roofs from hospitals, schools and government buildings.
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The city's airport has reopened and a Thai military flight has been sent with shelter materials and food. More flights are expected to arrive Tuesday, sent by the Red Cross and other agencies.
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The Associated Press reported from the city that residents were angry that the military regime had so far extended a helping hand only to wealthy neighbourhoods, leaving others to fend for themselves. Burma's authorities are ensconced in the newly built capital city, Naypyitawm, far from the cyclone-effected area.
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People were staying away from work Monday to find food and shelter for their families, AP reported.
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"Without my daily earning, just survival has become a big problem for us," said Tin Hia, who runs a roadside stand repairing umbrellas for passersby. His makeshift hut in one of the city's many slums had been destroyed, he said.
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"The Irrawaddy [River] delta was hit extremely hard, not only because of the wind and rain but [also] because of the storm surge," said Chris Kaye, the UN's acting humanitarian co-ordinator in Rangoon.
Burmese-Canadian community concerned
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Members of Canada's Burmese community have been in contact with relatives in their homeland, according to Tin Muang Htoo of the activist group Canadian Friends of Burma.
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"It's typical that storms are hitting [at this time of year]," Htoo told CBC news, "but this time, this is the worst.
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"After this crisis, there will be lots of difficulties dealing with food crisis and sanitation, especially with water."
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Htoo called on Canada to offer help to hard-hit people in Burma when parliament confers honourary Canadian citizenship on the imprisoned Burmese democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Monday afternoon in Ottawa.
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The cyclone came just a few days before the military junta in Burma was to hold a referendum on a new constitution that could lead to multi-party elections in 2010. State media are insisting the vote will go ahead, but government ministers have told diplomats that a postponement is possible, news agencies report.
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Pro-democracy groups say the proposed new constitution would merely perpetuate military rule in the country.
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Last year, at least 31 people died in anti-junta protests that were brutally surpressed by the authorities.
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Despite the devastating storm, the Burmese junta said plans would go ahead for a referendum May 10 on a new constitution that would pave the way for multi-party elections in 2010.
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Last September, at least 31 people were killed and thousands more detained when the military regime cracked down brutally on peaceful pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks and students.
With files from the Associated Press
