By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - The United States is still waiting forapproval from Myanmar to start military aid flights forsurvivors of Cyclone Nargis, its ambassador to Bangkok said onThursday.
"This morning, we and our Thai allies thought we had adecision from the Burmese leadership to let the C-130 in. As ofnow, we don't have that decision," U.S. ambassador Eric Johntold a news conference in the Thai capital.
"We don't have permission yet for the C-130 to go in but Iemphasise 'yet'" John said.
Earlier, Thai Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit toldReuters the U.S. military had been given the green light and anembassy official confirmed the decision.
The decision was surprising given the huge distrust andacrimony between the former Burma's generals and Washington,which has imposed tough sanctions to try to end decades ofmilitary rule.
International pressure has been building on the junta tothrow its doors wide open to an international relief operationfor the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000people were killed in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Aid has barely trickled into one of the world's mostisolated and impoverished countries, although experts feared itwould be too little to cope with the aftermath of Nargis, whichleft up to 100,000 feared dead and one million homeless.
Witnesses saw little evidence of a relief effort under wayin the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta region.
"We'll starve to death, if nothing is sent to us," said ZawWin, a 32-year-old fisherman who waded through floating corpsesto find a boat for the two-hour journey to Bogalay, a townwhere the government said 10,000 people were killed.
"We need food, water, clothes and shelter," he told aReuters reporter. "We'll starve to death if nothing is sent tous."
AID FLIGHTS DELAYED
The storm pulverised the delta on Saturday with 190 km (120mph) winds followed by a massive tidal wave that caused most ofthe casualties and damage, virtually destroying some villages.
U.N. officials had earlier complained that an airlift ofemergency supplies for the victims was delayed on Thursday,awaiting clearance to land from the military government.
"They need assistance today. They needed it yesterday,"Tony Banbury, Asia regional director of the U.N. World FoodProgramme WFP, said in Bangkok.
"They can't wait and they shouldn't be asked to wait untiltomorrow and it's crucial that food, water, shelter and medicalsupplies need to go in right away."
Another WFP official said three planes were waiting ontarmacs in Bangkok, Dhaka and Dubai with 38 tonnes of supplies.
Myanmar's generals had issued an appeal for internationalassistance, but have been dragging their feet over issuingvisas to foreign aid workers.
WFP spokesman Paul Risley said aid agencies normally expectto fly in experts and supplies within 48 hours of a disaster,but nearly a week after the Myanmar cyclone, few internationalgroups have been able to send reinforcements into Myanmar.
State media are reporting a death toll of 22,980 with42,119 missing, although diplomats and disaster experts saidthe real figure from the massive storm surge that swept intothe Irrawaddy delta is likely to be much higher.
"The information that we're receiving indicates that theremay well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area," ShariVillarosa, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar,said in a teleconference with reporters in Washington.
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan in Bangkok;Writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Grant McCool)
