100,000 May Have Died in Myanmar, Aid Begins to Arrive

The UN says planes carrying vital food supplies cannot enter because they still do not have permission to land.

Teams reaching some of the worst-hit areas have described harrowing scenes.

Some aid workers reported bodies rotting in the fields and desperate survivors fighting over food and water.

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But the Burmese government has spurned some offers of aid, such as one
from the US to deploy navy ships, and many foreign aid workers are
being held in a queue for visas.

The government has approved some UN air shipments, but these are still being delayed.

A Bangkok-based UN official said that World Food Programme planes
loaded with 40 tons of high-energy biscuits were stuck in Dhaka and
Dubai because they had not yet received permission to land in Burma.

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This weekend there is to be a referendum on a new constitution. The international community has already condemned it as a sham.

The generals may be worried that letting in foreigners ahead of the
that poll could stoke more criticism of their political reforms, our
correspondent says.

Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said Wednesday that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone.

YANGON — Aid trickled into Myanmar on Wednesday for an estimated one million victims of Cyclone Nargis in military-ruled Myanmar, with the death toll rising to nearly 23,000 and expected to go higher.

With the inundated Irrawaddy delta virtually cut off and frustration growing among aid agencies and governments to deliver supplies, France suggested invoking a UN “responsibility to protect” clause without waiting for military approval.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters on Wednesday the idea was being discussed at the United Nations.

State Myanmar radio and TV, the main official sources for casualties and damage, reported an updated death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured in Asia's most devastating cyclone since a 1991 storm in Bangladesh that killed 143,000.

Richard Horsey of the United Nations Office of the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs told Reuters in Bangkok the death toll was expected to rise.

“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.

Experts say Myanmar's ruling military must overcome their distrust of the outside world and open up to a full-scale international relief operation. Mr. Horsey said the government “recognizes this is an unprecedented emergency” that needed international involvement.

The United Nations recognized in 2005 the concept of “responsibility to protect” civilians when their governments could or would not do it, even if this meant intervention that violated national sovereignty.

European Parliament president Hans-Geert Poettering urged the junta to give access to international aid and to postpone a controversial constitutional referendum on Saturday.

Thailand, China, India and Indonesia were flying in relief supplies and the U.S. President and Australian Prime Minister appealed to the Myanmar government to accept their assistance.