Burma agrees to increase cyclone aid access: UN chief

U.S. weather agency downgrades cyclone warning

Last Updated: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 | 3:21 PM ET

CBC News

Children line up to receive food from local donors on the outskirts of Rangoon in Burma on Wednesday. (Associated Press)

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he is considering sending his top emergency relief co-ordinator to Burma in an attempt to speed up the delivery of international aid to the cyclone-ravaged country.

Ban's statements came just hours after the UN increased its estimate of how many people in Burma were "severely affected" by Cyclone Nargis to between 1.6 million and 2.5 million people. The agency's earlier estimate had been 1.5 million.

The storm may have killed as many as 127,990 people, according to a recent tally by the International Red Cross. The official death toll provided by the state had been 62,000, while the UN had previously estimated that more than 100,000 were killed.

Following a two-hour meeting behind closed doors with the Burmese ambassador to the UN and another diplomat, Ban said he had secured support from the country also known as Myanmar, its neighbours and key donors to increase the flow of cyclone relief aid and to convene a possible donors' conference this month.

"In view of the magnitude of this crisis, much more needs to be done," he told reporters. "Myanmese ambassador has assured that the Myanmese government will do all to assist."

He added John Holmes, the UN's undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, might accompany a World Food Program plane carrying relief supplies in the coming days.

Burma's UN ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe, called Wednesday's meeting a "brainstorming session," but warned the crisis "must not be politicized."

"Secretary-General came out with a number of important proposals, and everybody in the room [is] going to study it," he told reporters.

Earlier Wednesday, Holmes said unauthorized air drops of food and emergency supplies aren't the most effective way to deliver aid, but could be considered "if all else fails."

"On the question of air drops … it is something that could be contemplated," he said. "The only criterion for me is whether it helps the people on the ground."

Burmese children reach their hands out to receive a banana from a local donor on the outskirts of Rangoon in Burma on Wednesday. (Associated Press)

Cyclone warning downgraded

Also Wednesday, the U.S. government's Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Pearl Harbor downgraded a warning that another cyclone could hit the southeast Asian country within days.

"The potential for a significant tropical cyclone within the next 24 hours is downgraded to poor," said a statement from the centre, which had predicted a second cyclone could strike the country. Heavy rains are predicted, however.

Heavy rains, widespread flooding and damaged roads and bridges have made it difficult to reach survivors, many of whom have seen their homes and rice farms wash away, especially in the hard hit Irrawaddy Delta.

Compounding the problem is that Burma's military government has blocked several relief planes from entering the country with aid supplies, and has refused visas to many foreign aid workers.

Door open 'a crack'

Holmes said there have been "one or two small signs of progress" in gaining access for foreign workers, but nowhere near what is needed.

UN officials are continuing to use any diplomatic channels they have with Burmese officials, as well as working with Burma's neighbours, he said.

"We have to keep pushing on this door … a door that is only open a crack at the moment."

The military junta is also restricting journalists' access. Most have been forced to report on the disaster from nearby Bangkok.

Dan Rivers of CNN reported from the devastated delta for a few days by hiding under blankets when being driven through police checkpoints. He was eventually spotted by government officials and deported.

Villagers in the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta in Burma sleep at a Buddhist temple used as a shelter for victims of Cyclone Nargis. (World Vision/HO/Associated Press)

He said what he saw in the delta was appalling. Survivors were taking shelter in crowded monasteries, desperate for food and water, and in one town, he watched a body being dumped into a river.

"The entire town was like a kind of bomb had gone off," Rivers told CBC News from Bangkok. "There was barely a building left standing or undamaged.

"You'd see the sort of haunting faces of people who've lost everything, who've seen their families killed, who are wondering where the next meal will come from, where the next drink of water will come from."

'Modest progress' in reaching survivors

Pitt said aid agencies are starting to get some supplies through.

Negotiations continue between aid workers and government officials in Burma, resulting in more visas granted, more planes allowed in, and a slow clearing of the bottleneck of people and supplies at the airport in Rangoon.

Although hesitant to compare disasters, Amanda Pitt of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs said the level of aid getting to the affected areas of Burma is nothing compared to the relief efforts that took place after the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan.

"Within the first couple of days [in Pakistan], there were flights taking off every couple of minutes from Islamabad up to the affected areas, not a few times per day [like in Burma]. So we're really looking at scaling up that capacity."

Ramesh Shrestha, a UNICEF worker in Burma, told CBC News that his organization has doled out relief supplies in 28 townships, but it's still not enough.

"It’s nowhere near what’s actually required on the ground.… It’s going to be a constant battle for several months to come.”

Canadian emergency kits being flown to Burma

Burma is allowing a Thai medical team into the most ravaged areas in the Irrawaddy Delta, the CBC's Kas Roussy said, reporting from Bangkok. She said 160 aid workers from Burmese allies like India, China and Bangladesh are also being allowed a higher degree of access.

Volunteers from the Singapore Red Cross Society pack aid supplies at an army logistics centre for cyclone victims in Burma on Wednesday. (Wong Maye-E/Associated Press)

Meanwhile, three cargo flights carrying supplies for Médecins Sans Frontières did arrive in Rangoon on Wednesday and two more are expected soon, Roussy said.

The Canadian military has a shipment of 2,000 emergency survival kits expected to arrive in Bangkok on Friday, before being redirected into Burma, while the UN's World Food Program has distributed food to about 70,000 people, Roussy said.

Rumours are swirling that the junta is hoarding good foreign relief supplies for itself, but Burma has denied these accusations. The World Food Program has said a report that its high-energy biscuits were redirected to a junta military base, while much lower-quality biscuits were handed out to survivors, is untrue.

The rumours have made relief agencies afraid that people around the world will hold off on donations because they believe aid isn't reaching victims. Four aid agencies in Canada — Care Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec and Save the Children Canada — tried to reassure Canadians on Tuesday that their donations were not going to waste.

The organizations said they have managed to get more than 1,000 aid workers into Burma and urged Canadians to donate so that they can continue distributing supplies and setting up temporary camps.

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