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Yangon: Hungry crowds of cyclone survivors stormed a few shops that opened in Myanmar's devastated Irrawaddy delta yesterday, as the military-ruled country's visa restrictions hampered international aid efforts.
Little relief reached the people in the worst-hit western region, even as corpses drifted in salty flood waters after the weekend disaster that killed more than 22,000 people and left an estimated 1 million homeless.
The World Food Programme (WFP) was getting ready to send 40 metric tonnes of relief material from Dubai. The World Health Organisation will send 8.7 metric tonnes of emergency health kits on that flight.
Internal UN documents showed growing frustration at foot-dragging by the junta, which has kept the impoverished nation isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control. "Visas are still a problem. It is not clear when it will be sorted out," said the minutes of a meeting yesterday of the UN task force coordinating relief for Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand.
Non-food supplies
Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for UN relief efforts in Geneva, said that the UN received permission to send non-food supplies and that a cargo plane was being loaded in Brindisi, Italy, but that it might be two days before it leaves. India, Indonesia and China also sent some aid.
Britain pledged $9.8 million (Dh36 million) and the US offered more than $3 million in aid. US President George W. Bush said Washington was prepared to use the US Navy to help search for the dead and missing. However, the Myanmar military, which regularly accuses the US of trying to subvert its rule, was unlikely to accept US military presence.
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