Devastated by the tsunami - and again by Cyclone Nargis

The United States today dispatched its first aid flight to Burma, where some 1.5 million survivors of a massive cyclone are still waiting for help as the relief effort flounders.

Burma's military government conceded that parts of the disaster zone were still cut off 10 days after disaster struck, and that authorities had not been able to reach people there to discover the extent of the damage. The flow of international aid into Burma, which says 62,000 people are dead or missing, has increased in the past two days, but relief agencies say much more is needed to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.

Long suspicious of any outside influences that could undermine their control over the country, the ruling generals reiterated today that foreign experts - who have the skills to oversee the relief effort - would not be put in charge. Only a handful of visas have been handed out to foreign aid works, and relief groups have complained bitterly about the restrictions which they say could mean more people will die.

“Delivery of relief goods can be handled by local organisations,” Soe Tha, the Economic Development Minister, told the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, the junta’s mouthpiece.

He said that there were still some parts of the country where authorities had not been able to visit since the massive storm, which churned up a sea surge that obliterated the southern delta on May 3. “Supplies were dropped in flooded areas where the helicopters could not land,” he said.

Aid groups have insisted the regime does not have the capacity to direct the relief operation in the delta, where diarrhoea and other illnesses are starting to threaten survivors living in scenes of almost unimaginable despair.

Ten days after the tragedy struck, bloated corpses are still floating in the water, a large number of people do not have enough food or fuel or clean water and emergency supplies are lacking.

“We have not got any aid from anyone,” said Man Mu, a mother of five in one of the thousands of tiny delta villages that was pulverised by the storm. One of her children was swept away in the disaster. “We only have the clothes we are wearing. We have lost everything."

“It sounds pretty devastating,” said US Marine Major Tom Keating, as a US C-130 transport plane was loaded with blankets, mosquito nets and water in neighbouring Thailand before taking off for Burma's main city Rangoon. “When you have a crisis going and you can’t help out, it’s just frustrating."

The flight from the United States - one of Burma's most vocal critics - was the first that Washington has won permission to send, and it is unclear if more will follow.

As it showed in the Asian tsunami disaster of 2004, the US is likely to be the only country with the military manpower and equipment to carry out a vast and immediate relief effort of the kind needed. But there is no question of Burma, which has suffered under years of sanctions imposed by Washington, allowing in military personnel from the US or other countries.

Other international aid flights have been increasing, however, and a Red Cross spokesman said that nine of its planes will have reached Rangoon by the end of today. “It’s not true that nothing is happening at all, but not enough is happening,” said Frank Smithuis of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).

UN and US diplomats have said they believe at least 100,000 are dead, but relief agencies have struggled to get a clear picture of the situation on the ground in one of the world’s most impoverished and isolated nations.

Andrew Kirkwood of Save the Children, one of the few agencies allowed to operate under tight controls inside Burma, said there were now outbreaks of fever and diarrhoea among survivors. He said that many people were also suffering from exposure after spending days out in the elements after their homes were destroyed.

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