Myanmar cyclone hits rice supply to Lanka

The World Food Programme says the cyclone and flooding in Myanmar`s two major rice growing areas have `potentially serious effects` for rice supply to Sri Lanka and neighbouring Bangladesh.

-dailymirror.lk

In the former Myanmar capital Yangon, an official said the planned shipment of 50,000 tonnes of milled rice to Sri Lanka in May may be delayed as the government needs to check its stocks

- Reuters

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Myanmar toll now 15,000, with twice as many missing

Posted at 5:41pm on 06 May 2008

The death toll in the cyclone which hit Myanmar at the weekend has risen to 15,000, with another 30,000 people thought to be missing.

State television has confirmed the new death toll, while Thai Foreign Minister Noppadol Pattama says twice that number are missing.

He was speaking after a meeting with Myanmar`s ambassador to Bangkok, Ye Win, who refused to answer questions from reporters at the Thai Foreign Ministry, leaving Mr Noppadon to summarise his report on the disaster.

Cyclone Nargis is reported to have killed 10,000 people in one town alone when it swept through the Irrawaddy delta, with winds reaching up to 190km an hour and torrential rain.

Thousands of buildings have been flattened, power lines downed, trees uprooted, roads blocked and water supplies disrupted.

After getting a `careful green light` from the government, the United Nations says it is pulling out all the stops to send in emergency aid such as food, clean water, blankets and plastic sheeting.

It says there is also an urgent need for water purification tablets, cooking equipment, mosquito nets, health kits and food.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win said on state television that his government was ready to accept international assistance.

UN World Food Programme spokesman Paul Risley says the organisation will begin preparing assistance now to be delivered and transported to Myanmar as quickly as possible.
NZ contribution

Prime Minister Helen Clark says the New Zealand Government will step up to provide assistance to Myanmar

Miss Clark says the Government will not give money directly to the military regime, as New Zealand has little contact with the authorities there, but will provide funds to the international aid agency which is best-placed to help people.

She says the government initially gave $NZ500,000 to an agency working in Myanmar, but that is likely to be increased based on information from humanitarian groups.

The United States has released $US250,000 in immediate emergency aid and promised more, although Myanmar`s military rulers have refused entry to a US disaster response team.

India`s government announced two naval ships loaded with food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicines would sail for Myanmar soon.
Yangon hit hard

In the former capital Yangon, food and fuel prices have soared and clean water is scarce.

Most shops have sold out of candles and batteries and there is no word when power will be restored.

Long queues formed at the few open petrol stations. The price of a gallon of petrol has doubled on the black market, while egg prices have tripled since Saturday.

The United States senior diplomat in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa, says Yangon has no electricity, very limited communications and water is lacking in many neighbourhoods.

Many roofs in the city were ripped off even sturdy buildings, suggesting damage would be severe in the shanty towns of five million people that lie on the outskirts.

The towns of Bogalay and Laputta, in the region of Irrawaddy, are among those locations particularly badly hit, state media have reported.

Five regions, in which 24 million people live, have been declared disaster zones.

-http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200805061741/3cbc9d18

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Myanmar rulers under fire over cyclone

YANGON, May 6, 2008 (AFP) - Myanmar`s military rulers were under fire Tuesday after revealing more than 10,000 people died in the cyclone that battered the secretive and impoverished nation, with thousands more missing.

As relief agencies scrambled to get food, clean water and supplies into a country that normally scorns foreign aid, US First Lady Laura Bush accused the regime of not doing enough to warn its people about the storm.