05/08/2008
With up to 100,000 people feared killed in Myanmar's cyclone and an estimated 1 million homeless, frustration grew on Thursday over the military government's inability to allow international aid into the country.
Six days after Cyclone Nargis pulverised the Irrawaddy Delta with 190 kmh (190 MPH) winds followed by a tidal wave, aid was barely trickling into one of the world's most isolated and impoverished countries.
Three planes loaded with vital U.N. emergency supplies for Myanmar's cyclone victims were delayed on Thursday, awaiting clearance from the military government hours after they were due to land, U.N. officials said.
"They need assistance today. They needed it yesterday," Tony Banbury, Asia regional director of the U.N. World Food Programme WFP, said in Bangkok.
"They can't wait and they shouldn't be asked to wait until tomorrow and it's crucial that food, water, shelter and medical supplies need to go in right away."
Another WFP official said the three planes were waiting on tarmacs in Bangkok, Dhaka and Dubai with 38 tonnes of supplies.
The WFP officials said they believed one Thai commercial cargo plane had landed in Yangon with seven tonnes of high-energy biscuits.
Submit this story to:
Digg
Del.icio.us
Technorati
