BANGKOK, Thailand — Monsoon winds and rain whipped through Myanmar’s Irrawaddy River delta Wednesday, compounding the misery for at least 1.6 million survivors of a deadly cyclone and spawning fresh appeals from the global community for immediate access to the disaster zone.
Myanmar’s military rulers continued to reject on-the-ground help from the outside world, despite warnings from experts that water-borne diseases and the government’s lackluster aid efforts could lead to an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.
The International Committee of the Red Cross issued a new death-toll estimate of 68,833 to 127,990, noting the numbers involved “pooling and extrapolating information” from 22 organizations. However, most aid groups have had only limited access to much of the disaster zone. The Red Cross also estimated that 1.6 million to 2.5 million people had been affected by the May 3 cyclone and said huge numbers had yet to be reached by rescuers.
The Myanmar government has said it is capable of managing relief operations on its own and gave a visiting foreign leader from Thailand a “guarantee” that there would be no outbreak of disease nor would survivors of the disaster go hungry.
Aid workers say reports from the water-logged delta describe desperate scenes of people on the move in search of food and shelter.
Aid organizations say their foreign staffers are being restricted to Yangon, which also was ravaged by Cyclone Nargis.
The United Nations said Myanmar continued to issue a limited number of visas to foreign aid workers, approving some of the 60 requests early this week for specialists. Some of the visas permitted only a week’s stay.
The laggardly pace of the rescue efforts led U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to convene a special meeting of major powers and Southeast Asian nations Wednesday to devise a strategy for prying the country open to foreign help. Myanmar’s rulers have not responded to Ban’s calls or letters.
The officials discussed such ideas as holding a summit of Southeast Asian nations in Bangkok and inviting Ban and Myanmar’s prime minister. Diplomats suggested that the meeting could culminate in an invitation for Ban to visit Myanmar accompanied by a throng of aid and recovery experts.
Myanmar is showing “one small sign of selective opening,” inviting 160 non-Western relief workers from China, India, Thailand and Bangladesh to help, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said Wednesday.
Washington did get permission Wednesday to send five more military cargo planes into Yangon. U.S. supplies were being dropped off at the airport, where the U.S. Air Force crews watched as they were loaded onto helicopters.
