[DIPECHO Network] Myanmar says more than 10, 000 killed in cyclone (NARGIS)

[List Moderator [ICIMOD-DIPECHO Network]]

Dear all,

The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone (NARGIS) has crossed 10,000. 
Information about more causalities is expected as thousands of people are 
still missing. If these numbers are accurate, the death toll would be the 
highest from a natural disaster in Asia since the Tsunami of December 2004. 
Five regions where 24 million people live have been declared as disaster zones.

Please find the news from AFP below.

Kind regards,
List moderator


<http://www.disasterpreparedness.icimod.org/viewcontent.php?id=19&keyword=&Start=0&link_id=4fc6062121cbbd93b1275758e2343b82>Myanmar 
says More than 10,000 Killed in Cyclone
Source: 
<http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5highJnU57LO6NcFj5f4IWCLx0gSg>http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5highJnU57LO6NcFj5f4IWCLx0gSg


YANGON (AFP) ­ Myanmar said Monday more than 10,000 people died in the 
cyclone that battered the impoverished nation, whose secretive military 
rulers made a rare appeal for international help to cope with the tragedy.

Reeling from the weekend disaster, which also left thousands missing, the 
Southeast Asian country once known as Burma -- one of the world's poorest 
-- warned that the staggering death toll could still rise further.

"There could be more casualties," said Nyan Win, foreign minister of the 
military junta which has ruled the country with an iron fist for decades, 
and normally puts tight restrictions on aid agencies from the outside world.

"We will welcome help like this from other countries, because our people 
are in difficulty," he said.

Governments around the world pledged help for a country that has more often 
earned the ire of the international community, not least for keeping 
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for much of the past two decades.

Even the United States, which tightened sanctions on Myanmar in the wake of 
a crackdown on anti-junta protests last year in which the UN says 31 people 
were killed, offered emergency aid and put a disaster response team on standby.

But US First Lady Laura Bush accused the regime of failing to issue a 
"timely warning" to those in the path of one of the worst storms here in 
recent memory.

State television showed images of entire communities that had flooded since 
Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck late Friday near the mouth of the Ayeyawaddy 
(Irrawaddy) river, about 220 kilometres (140 miles) southwest of Yangon.

"According to the latest information, more than 10,000 people were killed," 
Nyan Win said after briefing foreign diplomats.

"Information is still being collected, and there could be more casualties."

The United Nations said hundreds of thousands of people had been left 
homeless when the storm, packing winds of 190 kilometres (120 miles) per 
hour, ripped through the countryside, destroying entire villages.

Thousands of buildings were flattened as the cyclone tore power lines to 
shreds, uprooted trees that blocked key roads and disrupted water supplies 
in the main city and former capital, Yangon.

"I haven't seen anything like this in my whole life," one elderly resident 
told AFP.

The disaster looked set to put even more pressure on the precarious food 
supply in the region, with the damage to Myanmar's rice-producing regions 
not yet known. Myanmar notably has a deal to export rice to Sri Lanka.

As fears mounted that the toll would rise sharply, aid organisations were 
battling the devastation on the ground and the difficulties of getting 
supplies and personnel into one of the world's most isolated nations.

"If we look at the emergency needs for shelter and drinking water, there 
are several hundred thousand people who will need urgent assistance," 
Richard Horsey, a UN official in neighbouring Thailand, told AFP.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "very much alarmed" by news of 
the high death toll, vowing that the world body would "do whatever 
(necessary) to provide urgent humanitarian assistance."

A spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian 
Affairs (OCHA) said the ruling generals had "shown their disposition to 
receive international aid" but that methods of delivery had not been decided.

In Washington, Bush echoed calls made by Britain and Germany, urging the 
junta not to delay accepting the global offers of help.

"The United States stands prepared to provide an assistance team and 
much-needed supplies to Burma, as soon as the Burmese government accepts 
our offer," she told a White House news conference.

"The government of Burma should accept this team quickly, as well as other 
offers of international assistance."

The European Union released two million euros (three million dollars) in 
initial emergency aid. Germany, India, Japan, Norway and Sweden also 
quickly pledged to help.

The military government said Saturday's referendum on a new constitution 
intended to usher in democracy would go ahead, but many residents said they 
had more pressing problems.

"We don't want any democracy," said one man queuing urgently at a 
neighbour's well. "We just want water now."


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