Cyclone 'worse than tsunami'
2008-05-06 09:07
Bangkok - Myanmar may have been hit harder by the latest cyclone than the 2004 Asian tsunami, an aid worker said on Tuesday, describing fields littered with the corpses of the storm's victims.
Christian relief organisation World Vision, one of the few international agencies allowed to work inside the military-ruled state, said its teams had surveyed the most affected regions and witnessed scenes of desperation.
"They saw the dead bodies from the helicopters, so it's quite overwhelming from that height," said Kyi Minn, an adviser to World Vision's office in Myanmar's main city of Yangon. "Even from that height it's devastating."
The government said more than 15 000 people were killed after tropical cyclone Nargis hit from the Bay of Bengal on Saturday, with thousands more feared dead.
The storm ravaged a huge swathe of southwestern Myanmar, affecting some 24 million people or nearly half the country's population, according to the United Nations.
The most heavily damaged regions are remote areas in the Irrawaddy river delta, a swampy region heavily cultivated with rice paddies and difficult to access even in the best of times.
Resource, transport constraints
"The impact of the disaster could be worse than the tsunami because it is compounded by the limited availability of resources on top of the transport constraints," Kyi Minn told AFP by telephone from Yangon.
The 2004 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean killed 220 000 people in a dozen countries but caused little damage in Myanmar.
"Eyewitnesses tell us there are thousands without the basic needs of water, food and, in some areas, shelter. Now the weather is getting hotter again, people are quite desperate," he said.
"They have no water to drink, no food - and they are having to stand outside with no roof. This is quite desperate."
World Vision is distributing its limited supplies already inside the country, including clean water, clothing, shelter and rice. But Kyi Minn appealed to the international community for more help.
"We need outside assistance right away," he said. "Without clean water, there could be outbreaks of infectious diseases."