By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's junta took diplomats on a tourof the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy delta on Saturday as its toll ofdead and missing soared above 133,000 people, making CycloneNargis one of the most devastating ever to hit Asia.
In the last 50 years, only two Asian cyclones have exceededNargis in terms of human cost -- a 1970 storm that killed500,000 people in neighbouring Bangladesh, and another thatkilled 143,000 in 1991, also in Bangladesh.
However, with an estimated 2.5 million people clinging tosurvival in the delta, and the military government refusing toadmit large-scale outside relief, disaster experts say Nargis'body count could yet rise dramatically.
British officials say the actual toll may already be morethan 200,000.
Cases of cholera, endemic to much of the former Burma, havebeen found although the outbreaks are no more than wouldnormally be seen at this time of year, health officials said.
Meanwhile, the military, which has ruled unchecked for thelast 46 years, continues to insist it is capable of handlingaid distribution, seemingly out of fear an influx of foreignersmight loosen its vice-like grip on power.
With heavy tropical downpours continuing to hamper the aideffort on Saturday, the generals took Yangon-based diplomatsinto the delta to see the army's relief operations, although itwas expected to be a stage-managed and highly sanitised trip.
One envoy who went on a similar tour of a storm-hitdistrict of Yangon, the former capital, described the neat rowsof tents on display as "happy camps".
In the delta, the junta will have to work much harder tokeep the diplomats away from the destitute.
Near the town of Kunyangon this week, columns of men, womenand children stretched for miles alongside the road, begging inthe mud and rain for scraps of food or clothing from theoccasional passing aid vehicle.
"The situation has worsened in just two days," one aidvolunteer said as children mobbed his vehicle, their grimyhands reaching through the window for something to eat.
Many storm refugees are crammed into monasteries andschools and are being fed and watered by local volunteers andprivate donors who have taken matters into their own hands,sending in trucks laden with clothes, biscuits, dried noodlesand rice.
DEATH TOLL SOARS
In a rare sign of agreement with international aidagencies, the junta sharply raised its toll from the May 2disaster on Friday night to 77,738 dead and another 55,917missing.
The news came on state TV, which aside from offeringupdated casualty figures has mainly shown footage of generalshanding out food at the model tented villages.
People in Myanmar are snapping up bootleg video discs ofbloated corpses, desperate refugees and ravaged villages to geta fuller picture of the situation.
"Myanmar television is useless," said one Yangonbusinessman who bought the underground VCDs because he wantedto see the raw, uncensored version of the storm that killed hisbrother in Labutta, one of the hardest-hit towns in theIrrawaddy delta.
The generals have been admitting a steady stream of aidflights to Yangon, including around four a day from the U.S.military, the generals' arch enemy.
However, aid agencies say only a fraction of the requiredrelief is getting through to the inundated part of the delta --a stretch of land the size of Austria -- and unless thesituation improves, thousands more lives are at risk.
Given the junta's ban on foreign journalists andrestrictions on the movement of most international aid workers,independent assessment of the situation is difficult.
With international concern and frustration mounting, aparade of envoys has been flying in to try to coax the generalsout of their deep distrust of the outside world.
The latest is the U.N.' top humanitarian official, JohnHolmes, expected to arrive in Yangon on Sunday and meet PrimeMinister Thein Sein, the fourth-highest ranking junta member.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY?
Holmes will be carrying a third letter from U.N. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon to junta supremo Than Shwe, who hasrepeatedly ignored Ban's requests for a conversation, aspokeswoman said.
Ban is not the only one loosing patience.
France's U.N. ambassador said the junta was on the verge ofa "crime against humanity", and dismissed claims by his Myanmarcounterpart Paris was sending a warship to sit off the coast.
French envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert said the ship, Le Mistral,was operated by the French navy but was not a warship. It iscarrying 1,500 tonnes of food and medicine as well as smallboats, helicopters and field hospital platforms.
Three U.S. Navy vessels are already hovering off the coastready to go in with relief supplies, but the Pentagon insistsit will not do so until it gets the go-ahead from the Myanmarauthorities.
(Writing by Ed Cropley and Jerry Norton; Editing by DavidFox)
(For more stories on Myanmar cyclone follow the link toReuters AlertNet http:/www.alertnet.org)
