05/06/2008
Death toll climbed to 22,500 and an additional 41,000 people were missing, state media reported on Tuesday, as a result of the cyclone which hit Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta and triggered a tidal wave that left people nowhere to run. The storm surge was reported to have been 12 feet (3.5 metres) high.
The disaster has thrust isolated Myanmar back into the world spotlight, following the government's heavy-handed repression of pro-democracy protests that drew condemnation from the U.N. Human Rights Council and several Western capitals.
The United Nations, which is trying to calculate how much money donor governments should provide for Myanmar, said floods, debris and fallen power lines were impeding access to the hardest hit areas, which also lost their telephone services.
"Efforts to carry out a comprehensive assessment continue to be hindered by the lack of communications and blocked roads," Byrs said. "The most affected regions are only accessible by helicopter."
About 24 million people -nearly half Myanmar's population- live in disaster-struck areas of the country neighbouring India, China, Thailand and Laos.
The U.N. has estimated that several hundred thousand are without shelter and safe drinking water, and International Federation of the Red Cross spokesman Eric Porterfield said his organisation anticipates more than 1 million people could be made homeless as a result of the storm.
Aid agencies also said the destruction could spark epidemics of water- and food-borne diseases, such as diarrhoea and cholera, and hinder efforts to fight malaria, tuberculosis and other ailments requiring routine vaccinations and medicines.
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