Cyclone may have left over 100,000 deaths

U.S. officials in Myanmar are receiving information that there may be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area because of the cyclone that devastated the Southeast Asian nation, the top U.S. diplomat in the country said on Wednesday.

"The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area", said Shari Villarosa, the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar. She spoke with reporters by conference call from Rangoon. Villarosa said the 100,000 figure was not a confirmed death toll but was based on estimates provided by an international non-governmental organization. She declined to identify the organization.

She said recent estimates by the army-run Myanmar government put the death toll at 70,000 deaths, primarily in the delta area, she said. "The situation in the delta sounds more and more horrendous", she said. Many people had died there because the storm surge hit them while they were sleeping, and either inundated them or swept them out to sea, Villarosa said.

It was very difficult to get to the region because there were not that many roads to begin with, and bridges had been washed out, she said. In the Rangoon area, where most of the damage was from wind, the government estimated 600 or 700 deaths, she said. There was a strong risk of an outbreak of disease because of the lack of clean water, Villarosa said. "There is a very real risk of disease outbreaks".

She said the United States was making efforts to meet with ministers and senior officials and hoped to convey the message that the country needed a massive international relief effort. But, "this is a very paranoid regime", she said of the junta. "I can only assume that the longer the delay (in aid), the more victims that are created".