By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations estimates 1.5million people have been "severely affected" by the cyclonethat swept through Myanmar and the United States expressedoutrage on Thursday at the delays in allowing in aid.
"We're outraged by the slowness of the response of thegovernment of Burma (Myanmar) to welcome and acceptassistance," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad,told reporters.
"It's clear that the government's ability to deal with thesituation, which is catastrophic, is limited."
In Myanmar, desperate survivors cried out for aid nearly aweek after 100,000 people were feared killed by Cyclone Nargis.
The United States is awaiting approval to start militaryaid flights. The U.N. food agency and Red Cross/Red Crescentsaid they had finally started flying in emergency reliefsupplies after foot-dragging by the military junta.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is talking directly withthe junta's senior general, Than Shwe, to persuade him toremove obstacles, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmessaid.
U.S. ambassador Eric John told a news conference in Bangkokearlier that the United States and Thailand thought the Myanmargenerals had agreed to let a U.S military cargo plane fly insupplies to the reclusive southeast Asian country.
But that turned out to be premature.
"We don't have permission yet for the C-130 to go in, but Iemphasise 'yet'" John said.
Approval for such a flight would be significant, given thehuge distrust and acrimony between the former Burma's generalsand Washington, which has imposed tough sanctions to try to end46 years of unbroken military rule.
Witnesses have seen little evidence of a relief effortunder way in 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.
AID PLANES ARRIVE
The storm pulverised the delta on Saturday with 190 kmwinds followed by a massive 12 ft wave that caused most of thecasualties and damage, virtually destroying some villages. Itwas the worst cyclone in Asia since 1991, when 143,000 peoplewere killed in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The United Nations estimated at least 1.5 million people inMyanmar have been "severely affected", Holmes said. He was"disappointed" with the lack of progress being made in gettingU.N. aid in, he said.
State television on Thursday night did not give an updateof the death toll, which stood at 22,980 with 42,119 missing asof Tuesday. Diplomats and disaster experts said the real figureis likely to be much higher.
"The information that we're receiving indicates that theremay well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area," said ShariVillarosa, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar.
About 1 million were left homeless.
U.N. officials who had earlier complained the generals wereputting up obstacles to an emergency airlift, said a half-dozencargo planes had been allowed to land at Yangon airport.
The Red Cross/Red Crescent confirmed its first aid planetook off from Kuala Lumpur, carrying six tonnes of sheltermaterials.
World Food spokesman Paul Risley said aid agencies normallyexpect to fly in experts and supplies within 48 hours of adisaster, but nearly a week after this cyclone, few have beenable to send reinforcements into Myanmar.
France suggested invoking a U.N. "responsibility toprotect" to deliver aid to Myanmar without the government'sapproval, but its bid to make the Security Council take a standwas rebuffed on Wednesday by China, Vietnam, South Africa andRussia.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called hisMyanmar counterpart Nyan Win on Thursday and urged him to makeit possible for international aid workers and relieforganisation to reach the areas hit by the cyclone.
Some opponents accuse the junta of stalling because they donot want an influx of foreigners into the countryside duringSaturday's referendum on an army-drafted constitution thatlooks set to cement the military's grip on power.
Medicins sans Frontieres, which has 1,238 people inMyanmar, said it was ferrying aid into the delta via trucks andboats.
"We are focusing on those still alive; 50 percent of themhave wounds and they are infected," MSF official Frank Smithiusin Myanmar told Australian radio. "Because of the winds andhigh water, people got smashed around."
Jean-Michel Grand, executive director of Action contra laFaim in London, said the logistical obstacles were formidable.
"The roads are very poor or destroyed, and in many casesthere were no roads before. Everybody's looking at boats as analternative. It's going to be a massive logistics challenge.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej failed to reachMyanmar's generals on Thursday after U.S. President George W.Bush asked him to intervene over the aid delays.
"We couldn't reach them because the communication towershave been damaged," government spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotratsaid.
Amid the death and destruction, life asserted itself. ThanWin, who lost seven of her 10 children to Nargis gave birth onWednesday to a boy, she named "First Love".
"After what happened, this is a beautiful present," shesaid, lying on a wooden table in one of the few houses leftstanding in Bogalay town.
(Additional reporting by Aung Hla tun in Yangon, NoppornWong-Anan, Grant McCool and Darren Schuettler in Bangkok, JalilHamid in Kuala Lumpur, Kerstin Gehmlich in Berlin; Writing byBill Tarrant; Editing by Robert Woodward and Darren Schuettler)
