M A I N   N E W S

Cyclone toll rises to 22,500

Yangoon, May 6
Myanmar’s military government raised its death toll from cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to around 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, nearly all of them from a massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta.

Of the dead, only 671 were in the former capital, Yangon, and its outlying districts, state radio said, confirming Nargis as the most devastating cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.

“More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself,” minister for relief and resettlement Maung Maung Swe told a news conference in the rubble-strewn city of five million, where food and water supplies are running low. “The wave was up to 12 feet (3.5 metres) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages,” he said, giving the first detailed description of the weekend cyclone. “They did not have anywhere to flee.”

Information minister Kyaw Hsan said the military was “doing their best”, but analysts said there could be a fallout for the former Burma’s rulers, who pride themselves on their ability to cope with any challenge.

The first batch of more than $10 million worth of foreign aid arrived on Tuesday, but a lack of specialised equipment slowed distribution. US President George W. Bush urged the regime to accept US aid workers, who have so far been kept out, and said the US stood ready to “do a lot more” to help.

Earlier, foreign minister Nyan Win said on the state television that 10,000 people had died just in Bogalay, a town 90 km southwest of Yangon. However, the government lifted states of emergency in three of the five states declared official disaster zones and some parts of the worst-hit Yangon and Irrawaddy regions.

This will be in addition to the two ships that have been dispatched by the Indian Navy. It was opined that the Air force would have to be pressed in to service as the relief supplies on board Naval ships might take some time to reach the port that is located on the Irrawady river.