YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar’s monumental task of feeding and sheltering 1.5 million cyclone survivors suffered yet another blow Sunday when a boat laden with relief supplies — one of the first international shipments — sank on its way to the disaster zone.
The death toll jumped to more than 28,000 and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned that “malign neglect” by the isolated nation’s military rulers was creating a “humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions.”
The junta has been sharply criticized for its handling of the May 3 disaster, from failing to provide adequate warnings about the pending storm to responding slowly to offers of help.
Though international assistance has started trickling in, the few foreign relief workers who have been allowed entry into Myanmar have been restricted to the largest city of Yangon. Only a handful have succeeded in getting past checkpoints into the worst-affected areas.
But in what was seen as a huge concession by the junta, the United States finally got the go-ahead to send a C-130 cargo plane packed with supplies to Yangon today, with two more air shipments scheduled to land Tuesday.
Myanmar’s military rulers are deeply suspicious of Washington, which has long been one of the junta’s biggest critics.
Highlighting the many challenges ahead, however, a Red Cross boat carrying rice, drinking water and other goods for more than 1,000 people sank Sunday near hard-hit Bogalay town. All four aid workers on board were safe.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies could not say how much of the cargo has been lost, but it said the food supplies were contaminated by river water.
Other aid was increasingly getting through, the group said, but on “nowhere near the scale required.”
Heavy showers were forecast for the coming week, further complicating delivery of aid.
In hard-hit Laputta, hundreds of survivors crowded the floor of a monastery’s open-air hall, the sound of hungry children wailing. Many people tried to sleep sitting up because of lack of space.
On Sunday, Myanmar’s state television said the death toll from Cyclone Nargis had gone up by about 5,000 to 28,458 — with another 33,416 missing — though some experts said it could be 15 times that if people do not get clean water and sanitation soon. The U.N. said about 2 million people were severely affected by the storm.
“A natural disaster is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions in significant part because of the malign neglect of the regime,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.
“I would be amazed if there hadn’t been about 100,000 who had died already . . . what’s more, hundreds of thousands more are at risk,” he told British Broadcasting Corp. television.
Supplies pile up
Meanwhile, aid was piling up in foreign countries, awaiting approval from the junta.
The country’s main airport in Yangon is incapable of handling more than five flights a day, when it should be taking in at least one every hour, said PLAN, a London-based children’s aid group.
Aid group World Vision said it has requested visas for 20 people and received approval for two, while the U.N. World Food Program had one approved out of the 16 it requested.
Still, the U.N. was making some progress in aid delivery.
The junta released 38 tons of high-energy biscuits to the WFP that were confiscated on Friday and several other shipments were on their way.
