The number of people killed in Burma by Cyclone Nargis may rise "very significantly" beyond the government's official estimate, the top UN humanitarian official said today.
John Holmes, UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, gave no precise estimate of how much the death toll could rise. However, US diplomats today said the storm could have killed as many as 100,000 people.
Burma's military government has said nearly 23,000 people died because of the cyclone and 41,000 are still missing after Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irwaddy delta, Asia's most devastating cyclone since 1991 when a storm killed 143,000 in neighbouring Bangladesh. Up to one million people are believed to have been left homeless by the cyclone.
Military helicopters dropped food and water today to the people of the Irrawaddy delta, where entire villages have been washed away.
"We estimate upwards of one million people currently in need of shelter and life-saving assistance," Richard Horsey of the United Nations Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Bangkok after an emergency aid meeting.
Workers pour rice into bags to be loaded onto a truck for distribution in Rangoon
"There are large swathes of the lower Irrawaddy delta completely under water. We are talking 5,000 square km under water. It's a vast area," he said.
The military junta's aid operation has moved up a gear with some helicopter drops into the region, but land convoys were nowhere to be seen, witnesses in the malaria-infested swamplands of the delta said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today urged Burma's junta to allow international aid into the country to help victims of the cyclone, saying it should not be a political issue.
"What remains is for the Burmese government to allow the international community to help its people. It should be a simple matter. It is not a matter of politics," Rice told reporters.
So far military-ruled Burma has resisted requests by the United States and others to allow in disaster assessment teams and much-needed aid following the giant storm.
Aid experts say Burma's ruling generals must overcome their distrust of the outside world and open their doors to a full-scale international relief operation if more victims are not to die of thirst, hunger and disease.
"With all those dead mostly floating in the water at this point you can get some idea of the conditions facing the teams on the ground. It's a major logistical challenge," Mr Horsey said. "The top priorities are water purification tablets, plastic sheeting, basic medical kits, bed nets and emergency food."
Most of the victims were swept away by a wall of water from the weekend cyclone that smashed into coastal towns and villages.
In one town alone, Bogalay, 10,000 people were killed, according to a town-by-town list of casualties and damage announced by the reclusive military government.
Political analysts and critics of 46 years of military rule say the cyclone may have long-term implications for the junta, which is even more feared and resented since last September's bloody crackdown on Buddhist monk-led protests.
Official media reported today that military helicopters dropped food and bottled water to villagers in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta. More than half of Burma's 53 million people live in five worst-hit states, called divisions.
As the army's relief operations kicked up a gear four days after the cyclone struck, state-run television showed footage of bedraggled survivors lining up on banks of mud to be flown by helicopter out of some of the worst-hit villages.
The President, Mary McAleese, has expressed her sympathy for the people of Burma. "Ireland is anxious to assist the people of Burma in their relief and recovery efforts, and I am glad that the Government has made an initialpledge of up to €1 million for disaster relief," she said.
With disease, hunger and thirst threatening hundreds of thousands of survivors marooned in the delta, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd begged the junta to allowing in large scale humanitarian relief.
"Forget politics. Forget the military dictatorship. Let's just get aid and assistance through to people who are suffering and dying as we speak, through a lack of support on the ground," Mr Rudd told reporters in Perth.
In Washington, President George W. Bush also asked the military to relax its tight grip and allow aid agencies, governments and the US Navy to help.
Meanwhile, the president of the European Parliament urged Burma's military junta to further postpone a controversial constitutional referendum and ease access for international humanitarian aid groups.
"The military junta hasn't managed as far as we can see to come to grips with the situation. There were no preventative measures in place, nor were the population given support in good time," Poettering said in a statement to parliament.
State TV said the May 10 referendum - part of the army's much-criticised "roadmap to democracy" - would be postponed to May 24 in the worst-hit areas of Yangon and the delta but would proceed as planned in the rest of the Southeast Asian nation.
Poettering said the announcement was welcome, but said it needed to be extended to the whole country to allow people to concentrate on emergency aid.