Myanmar death toll soars
2008-05-17 13:05
Yangon - Myanmar's junta took diplomats on a tour of the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy delta on Saturday as its toll of dead and missing soared above 133 000 people, making Cyclone Nargis one of the most devastating ever to hit Asia.
In the last 50 years, only two Asian cyclones have exceeded Nargis in terms of human cost - a 1970 storm that killed 500 000 people in neighbouring Bangladesh, and another that killed 143 000 in 1991, also in Bangladesh.
However, with an estimated 2.5 million people clinging to survival in the delta, and the military government refusing to admit large-scale outside relief, disaster experts say Nargis' body count could yet rise dramatically.
British officials say the actual toll may already be more than 200 000.
Cases of cholera, endemic to much of the former Burma, have been found although the outbreaks are no more than would normally be seen at this time of year, health officials said.
Meanwhile, the military, which has ruled unchecked for the last 46 years, continues to insist it is capable of handling aid distribution, seemingly out of fear an influx of foreigners might loosen its vice-like grip on power.
Begging in the mud
With heavy tropical downpours continuing to hamper the aid effort on Saturday, the generals took Yangon-based diplomats into the delta to see the army's relief operations, although it was expected to be a stage-managed and highly sanitised trip.
Near the town of Kunyangon this week, columns of men, women and children stretched for miles alongside the road, begging in the mud and rain for scraps of food or clothing from the occasional passing aid vehicle.
"The situation has worsened in just two days," one aid volunteer said as children mobbed his vehicle, their grimy hands reaching through the window for something to eat.
In a rare sign of agreement with international aid agencies, the junta sharply raised its toll from the May 2 disaster on Friday night to 77 738 dead and another 55 917 missing.
Given the junta's ban on foreign journalists and restrictions on the movement of most international aid workers, independent assessment of the situation is difficult.
With international concern and frustration mounting, a parade of envoys has been flying in to try to coax the generals out of their deep distrust of the outside world.
The latest is the UN's top humanitarian official, John Holmes, expected to arrive in Yangon on Sunday and meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, the fourth-highest ranking junta member.
Losing patience
Holmes will be carrying a third letter from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to junta supremo Than Shwe, who has repeatedly ignored Ban's requests for a conversation, a spokesperson said.
Ban is not the only one losing patience.
France's UN ambassador said the junta was on the verge of a "crime against humanity", and dismissed claims by his Myanmar counterpart Paris was sending a warship to sit off the coast.