Myanmar survivors increasingly desperate

The 1.5 million people left destitute by Myanmar's cyclone are in increasing danger of disease and starvation, experts said yesterday, but its ruling junta rejected a Thai request to admit more aid workers.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said he was told Myanmar can "tackle the problem by themselves" during a two-and-half hour meeting in Yangon where he urged his counterpart Thein Sein to ease visa rules for relief workers.

Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Nargis swept through the heavily populated Irrawaddy delta rice bowl, leaving up to 100,000 people dead or missing, foreign aid still amounted to little more than a trickle as the generals resisted efforts to open up to more foreign workers and equipment.

Myanmar's Prime Minister "insisted that his country with 60 million people has a government, its people and the private sector to tackle the problem by themselves," Mr Samak told reporters after returning to Bangkok.

"They are confident of dealing with the problem by themselves. There are no outbreaks of diseases, no starvation, no famine. They don't need experts, but are willing to get aid supplies from every country," Mr Samak said.

Louis Michel, the top EU aid official, disagreed.

"There is a risk of water pollution. There is a risk of starvation because the storages of rice have been destroyed," he told reporters in Bangkok before flying to Yangon to seek better access for international aid workers and relief efforts.

"We want to convince the authorities of our good faith. We are there for humanitarian reasons," he said, throwing cold water on suggestions foreign countries move unilaterally on aid.

Even so, one EU member said yesterday it was time to act.

"If need be, the international community must force the Burmese regime to let more help and relief workers in," Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said.

Reports a tropical depression swirling southwest of Yangon which could develop into a major storm sparked concerns a new tragedy was in the making.

But the UN weather agency discounted the fears, saying while rain and winds were expected in Myanmar, there was no sign of a new cyclone forming in the Bay of Bengal region.

"With the monsoon season approaching, this type of weather will continue and periods of intensive rainfall will become more frequent," the World Meteorological Organisation said in a statement released in Geneva.

Myanmar state TV raised its official toll to 38,491 dead, 1,403 injured and 27,838 missing yesterday, but independent experts say far more people probably died.

In a gesture to critics, Myanmar's reclusive military rulers invited 160 personnel from Bangladesh, China, India and Thailand to assist in delayed and sometimes chaotic relief efforts.

But that is a fraction of the thousands of foreign aid workers needed for a "tsunami-style" international aid operation.

"It's just awful. People are in just desperate need, begging as vehicles go past," Gordon Bacon, an emergency coordinator for the International Rescue Committee, said.

Some foreign aid workers who have reached Myanmar have been restricted to cobbling together assessment reports in Yangon for donors, based on what local staff tell them.