The death toll in cyclone-hit Myanmar rose to 22,464 on Tuesday with another 41,000 people still missing, as the government admitted it was struggling to bring life back to normalcy.
Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and without clean water or food. The official death toll has increased throughout the day. Burmese state radio reported that 22,464 people had been confirmed dead.
Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said the government was “doing its best” to help those afflicted, but that the authorities were finding the relief effort difficult. “The task is very wide and extensive and the government needs the cooperation of the people and well-wishers from at home and abroad,” he said in a news conference in Yangon.
“We will not hide anything,” he said, saying £ 2.2 million had been set aside to provide aid.
With the price of staple foods, building materials and fuel skyrocketing, he warned retailers against profiteering. “We are coordinating and cooperating with private businessmen. We appeal to the entrepreneurs and businessmen not to cash in on the disaster,” he said.
Govt to accept aid
The military regime has said it would accept international help and teams of specialists are making their way to the affected areas.
Aid agencies have estimated that as many as 1 million people may be without shelter after their flimsy bamboo homes were torn down by the winds or washed away in the flooding that left a carpet of mud when it receded. “We have a major humanitarian catastrophe on our hands,” said Chris Kaye, Myanmar country director for the UN’s World Food Programme.
Thailand, the UN, EU, Japan and India are sending supplies and US first lady Laura Bush said the US was offering £125,000 of aid. World Vision said it had been granted special visas to send in personnel to back up 600 Burmese staff. Residents of Yangon joined forces during the day in an effort to clear the roads.
FOOD SECURITY
Rice exports could be hurt: WFP
Bangkok, afp & reuters:
The deadly cyclone that struck Myanmar devastated its main rice-growing region, and could threaten exports meant to ease shortages in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the UN food agency said on Tuesday.
Flooding, which poured damaging salt water into paddy fields, could create long-term food insecurity for Myanmar and other poor Asian countries, World Food Programme spokesman Paul Risley warned.
