The powerful cyclone that slammed into Burma's low-lying Irrawaddy delta triggered a massive wave killed at least 22,500 people and left 41,000 others missing, officials said today.
"More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself," Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told a news conference in the devastated former capital Rangoon, where food and water supplies are already running low.
Aid equipment, including tents and generators, are prepared in a warehouse in Singapore before they are delivered to Burma Photo: Reuters
"The wave was up to 3.5 metres high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said, giving the first detailed description of the weekend cyclone. "They did not have anywhere to flee."
It is the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Nyan Win said on state television that 10,000 people had died just in Bogalay, a town 90 kilometres southwest of Rangoon.
Reflecting the scale of the disaster, the ruling junta said it would postpone a constitutional referendum in the worst-hit areas of Rangoon and the sprawling Irrawaddy delta to May 24th.
However, the broadcast said the May 10th vote on the charter, part of the army's much-criticised "roadmap to democracy", would proceed as planned in the rest of the southeast Asian nation, which has been under military rule for the last 46 years.
The government also lifted states of emergency in three of the five states and some parts of the worst-hit Rangoon and Irrawaddy regions.
Thailand's foreign minister, Noppadol Pattama, said after a meeting with Burma's ambassador to Bangkok that he'd been told 30,000 people were missing following Friday's devastating storm. "The losses have been much greater than we anticipated," Mr Noppadol said after ambassador Ye Win declined to speak to reporters.
The total left homeless by the 190 km/h winds and 3.5 metre storm surge is in the several hundred thousands, United Nations aid officials say, and could run into the millions.
The scale of the disaster drew a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Bernard Delpuech, a European Union aid official in Yangon, said the junta had sent three ships carrying food to the delta region, rice bowl for Burma's 53 million people. Nearly half the population live in the five disaster-hit states.
Aid agency World Vision in Australia said it had been granted special visas to send in personnel to back up 600 staff in the impoverished Southeast Asian country.
"This is massive. It is not necessarily quite tsunami level, but in terms of impact of millions displaced, thousands dead, it is just terrible," World Vision Australia head Tim Costello said. "Organisations like ours have been given permission, which is pretty unprecedented, to fly people in. This shows how grave it is in the Burmese government's mind."
In Rangoon, people were queueing up for bottled water and there was still no electricity four days after Cyclone Nargis struck. Thousands of people left homeless y the cyclone are crammed into public buildings including schools and churches, with some shelters housing more than 1,000 people.
The Red Cross has already begun distributing water purification tablets and mosquito nets, and is preparing to hand out emergency shelters in the worst-hit areas.
In its coverage of the disaster, state media made much of the military's response, showing footage of soldiers manhandling tree trunks or top generals climbing into helicopters or greeting homeless storm victims in Buddhist temples.
Information Mnister Kyaw Hsan said the military were "doing their best". But analysts said there could be big political fallout for army rulers who pride themselves on their ability to cope with any challenge.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it would initially make up to €1 million available for disaster relief.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, said emergency Government aid housed in a UN depot in Italy will be airlifted to Burma, and members of the Irish Rapid Response Corps, which provides humanitarian assistance at short notice, may also be sent to the crisis zone.
Burma Action Ireland said today it was concerned the military junta would “not be proactive and decisive” in ensuring humanitarian aid reaches those who have been affected by the cyclone.
UNICEF has sent five assessment teams to three of the affected areas. "During emergencies, children are especially vulnerable to disease, malnutrition and violence and UNICEF will work to provide access to clean water, safe sanitation and improved hygiene, and will seek to protect children and assist them in returning to school as soon as possible" UNICEF Ireland Deputy Executive Director Thora Mackey said.
UNICEF Ireland has launched an appeal for funds. Donations can be made by calling 1850 767 999 or visiting
www.unicef.ie