Aid starts to reach cyclone victims

Aid is reaching Burma’s cyclone victims in greater amounts with many roads being cleared, but there is no sign foreign experts will be allowed in.

An internal report of the UN humanitarian coordinating agency today said “visas for international humanitarian personnel remain a critical issue”. The junta says it only wants international relief material and money but not the people to manage it. It wants to hand out all donated supplies on its own to an estimated two million people who are without food or shelter, facing the threat of diseases, after Cyclone Nargis on May 3.

According to the government, 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing. International aid organisations say the death toll could climb to more than 100,000 as conditions worsen.