Junta accepts outside help, residents queue for water, no electricity

The scale of the cyclone and storm in the military-ruled Myanmar drew a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Bernard Delpuech, a EU aid official in Yangon, said the junta had sent three ships carrying food to the delta region, rice bowl for Myanmar's 53 million people. Nearly half the population live in the five disaster-hit states.

In its coverage of the disaster, state media have made much of the military's response, showing footage of soldiers manhandling tree trunks or top generals climbing into helicopters or greeting homeless storm victims in Buddhist temples.

However, there could be big political fallout for a military junta that has prided itself on its ability to cope with any challenge thrown its way, analysts said.

"The myth they have projected about being well-prepared has been totally blown away," said political analyst Aung Naing Oo, who fled to Thailand after a brutally crushed 1988 uprising. "This could have a tremendous political impact in the long term."

Aid agency World Vision in Australia said it had been granted special visas to send in personnel to back up 600 staff in the impoverished Southeast Asian country.

"This is massive. It is not necessarily quite tsunami level, but in terms of impact of millions displaced, thousands dead, it is just terrible," World Vision Australia head Tim Costello said.

Residents of the city of five million were queuing up for bottled water and there was still no electricity four days after the vicious Cyclone Nargis struck.

Prices of food, fuel and construction materials have skyrocketed, and most shops have sold out of candles and batteries. An egg costs three times what it did on Friday.

"Generators are selling very well under the generals," said one man waiting outside a shop, reflecting some of the resentment on the streets to what many described as a slow warning and response.

Buddhist monks and home-owners hacked at fallen trees with hand saws and axes, trying to clear roads. Soldiers were seen clearing debris and trees only at major intersections, fuelling a sense among residents that the military was not doing enough.

Anger at the authorities is still high because of their bloody crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks in September.

"The regime has lost a golden opportunity to send the soldiers as soon as the storm stopped to win the heart and soul of people," one retired civil servant told a Reuters.

"But where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year," he said.

Factbox

Governments and relief agencies around the world have promised more than $10 million worth of aid and technical support to Myanmar. The following includes some of the aid offers to date:

• UN: A five-member UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team assembled in Bangkok. UNICEF has sent assessment teams to three of the five disaster-hit areas.

• Red Cross: About 200,000 Swiss francs ($189,000) released by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' emergency disaster fund. Relief workers are distributing drinking water, clothing, food, plastic tarpaulins and hygiene kits.

• Myanmar Red Cross is distributing insecticide-treated bed nets to help prevent malaria and water purification tablets. The government said it would allocate 5 billion kyats ($4.5 million) for relief and resettlement work.

• American Red Cross has pledged $100,000 in funds and supplies.

• World Vision, Australia: The Christian relief group pledged A$3 million ($2.8 million) for first month of relief operations in Myanmar. About 25 medical, health and hygiene specialists to be sent into cyclone-ravaged areas.

• China: The government will give the Myanmar government $500,000 in cash and materials including tents, blankets and biscuits worth a further $500,000, the Ministry of Commerce said.

• India: Two Indian naval ships loaded with food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicines sent to Yangon, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

• Japan: It will provide 28 million yen ($267,570) worth of emergency aid in the form of tents, power generators and other supplies, the Foreign Ministry said.

• Thailand: A transport plane loaded with food and medicine was sent to Yangon.

• Singapore: It has offered humanitarian assistance, its Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

• European Commission: Pledged two million euro ($3 million) for fast-track humanitarian aid.

• US: Promised $250,000 in immediate emergency aid and urged Myanmar's rulers to allow a US disaster response team into the country.

• Canada: Some C$2 million ($1.98 million) for the relief effort to support organisations.

• Germany: The government will give €500,000 to German aid organisations to provide shelter, drinking water, household utensils and mosquito nets, the Foreign Office said.