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Burma continues to reject help Burma continues to reject help
(about 2 hours later)
Burma's military government has said it is still opposed to letting foreign aid workers in to help the many victims of Cyclone Nargis. Burma's military rulers still oppose foreign aid workers helping the many thousands left destitute and in danger of disease by Cyclone Nargis.
Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, of the military leadership, said Burma was grateful for the aid shipment from the United States which arrived on Monday. Vice-Admiral Soe Thein said Burma was grateful for an aid shipment from the US, which arrived on Monday, but said there was no need for aid workers.
But he said that so far there was no need for aid workers. The UN has warned of the risk of a "second catastrophe" unless a massive aid operation is put in place rapidly.
The US has said it hopes to send in two more transport aircraft carrying aid later on Tuesday. The organisation is calling for a "transport corridor" to be set up.
Two lorries carrying relief supplies overland have also now arrived in Rangoon. The UN's humanitarian chief, Elisabeth Byrs, reiterated the international community's exasperation with Burma's ruling junta.
But aid workers complain that much of the aid delivered over the past week has not reached those who need it, because the Burmese military insists on controlling most of the distribution - despite lacking the equipment and expertise to do it well. "We are only seeing the peak of the iceberg, and the situation risks becoming a lot more dramatic if there isn't an acceleration of humanitarian aid," she told journalists in the Swiss city of Geneva.
They describe delivering supplies in the Irrawaddy Delta with dugout canoes, and say they are badly overstretched. 'Haphazard' delivery
The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis is approaching 32,000 - but observers fear the final count will be much higher.
Ms Byrs said 55,000 tonnes of rice would be needed to feed the 750,000 people estimated to be in danger for three months. Half of the rice would need to be imported.
EXTENT OF THE DEVASTATION See map and satellite imagesBurmese begin to rebuildUrgent EU mission
So far, she said, the World Food Programme had been able to send only 361 tonnes of food aid - and distribute just 175 tonnes.
Emergency help has been held up by Burma's rulers, who have accepted the aid but refused to allow experts from overseas to co-ordinate its delivery.
Aid agencies say much of the food and equipment arriving in the country is not getting to those who need it because the junta does not have the organisation to transport it.
A BBC correspondent inside Burma says aid delivery is haphazard and private citizens have begun to distribute water and cakes from the backs of their cars rather than waiting for the soldiers to help.
French news agency AFP reported that the military had imposed a curfew in some of the worst-affected areas in the Irrawaddy Delta region over fears that rice rations would be stolen.
"You can't go out after 7pm because the soldiers will shoot," a 60-year-old man from the village of Pyin Ka Yaing told an AFP reporter there.
'Immense frustration''Immense frustration'
The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says that much of the aid which has arrived in the country has sat at the airport for days. The BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head says much of the aid that has arrived in the country has sat at the airport for days.
He adds that after more heavy rain, the survivors are living in wretched conditions, and the fear of a further wave of deaths from disease is a real one. EXTENT OF THE DEVASTATION class="" href="/1/hi/uk/7389848.stm">See map and satellite images class="" href="/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7397794.stm">Burmese begin to rebuild He adds that after more heavy rain, the survivors are living in wretched conditions and the fear of a further wave of deaths from disease is a real one.
On Monday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed his "immense frustration" at what he described as Burma's "unacceptably slow" response to the cyclone, which hit the country 10 days ago.
Mr Ban said aid had been able to reach less than a third of all those at risk, and added that he had still not been able to speak to the leader of Burma's military government, General Than Shwe.
The official toll for the cyclone has risen to almost 32,000, although foreign aid workers say the real number of dead may be much higher.
"We are at a critical point. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's current crisis," Mr Ban said.
"I therefore call in the most strenuous terms on the government of Myanmar (Burma) to put its people's lives first."
'Slow response'
US President George W Bush added his voice, describing Burma's leaders as either "isolated or callous".
"There's no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response," he told CBS radio.
An aid worker's account of conditions in Burma's Delta region (12 May)An aid worker's account of conditions in Burma's Delta region (12 May)
The US aid flight which arrived in Rangoon on Monday, after days of negotiation, was carrying 12,700kg of supplies including mosquito nets, blankets and water. World leaders have stepped up their rhetoric against the Burmese generals in recent days, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressing "immense frustration" at what he described as their "unacceptably slow" response.
In addition, aircraft from medical relief agencies Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and Medecins du Monde (MDM) arrived, loaded with a total of 56 tonnes of aid. US President George W Bush described the generals as either "isolated or callous".
UN humanitarian head John Holmes said there had been "some slight improvement again in the last few days, particularly in the last 24 hours." "There's no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response," he told CBS radio.
Thirty-four visas for UN staff were being granted or expected to be granted, he said. Ms Byrs called for "at least an air or sea corridor to channel aid in large quantities as quickly as possible".
But he added that this was "clearly nothing like enough for the scale of the problem we're trying to deal with". The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the UN must use "all means necessary" to ensure aid got through to those who needed it most.
In the Irrawaddy delta, the area worst affected by the cyclone, people have been left without shelter, crops, and stored rice. A US flight carrying about 13 tonnes of supplies including mosquito nets, blankets and water arrived in Rangoon on Monday followed by two flights from aid agencies carrying 56 tonnes of aid.
With little access to food or clean drinking water, they face cholera, fever and other illnesses. The UN says it has so far reached 270,000 people - but officials fear more than one million are facing cholera, fever or starvation.
Mr Ban said the UN had been able to reach some 270,000 people, providing only "the most rudimentary assistance". Mr Ban said food aid provided so far might amount to less than a 10th of what was needed, and that rice stocks in the country were "close to exhaustion".
He said food aid provided so far might amount to less than a 10th of what was needed, and that rice stocks were "close to exhaustion".
The EU is to hold an emergency meeting on getting aid to Burma later today.
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