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UN calls for Burma aid corridor UN calls for Burma aid corridor
(40 minutes later)
Relief for those affected by Cyclone Nargis has been slow to arrive
The United Nations has called for an air or sea corridor to be opened to channel large amounts of aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma.The United Nations has called for an air or sea corridor to be opened to channel large amounts of aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma.
A spokeswoman for the UN humanitarian agency in Geneva said there was a risk of a second catastrophe unless a massive operation was put in place. The UN's humanitarian agency said there was a risk of a "second catastrophe" unless a massive operation began.
The UN has only been able to reach between a fifth and a quarter of the estimated 1.5 million people in need. The UN said it had only been able to reach nearly a fifth of about 1.5m people in urgent need. The official death toll has now reached 34,273.
Burma's military leaders oppose the entry of foreign aid workers. Burma's junta is still opposed to the entry of foreign aid workers.
Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, of the country's military leadership, said it was grateful for the aid shipment from the United States which arrived on Monday, but insisted that so far there was no need for aid workers. Vice-Admiral Soe Thein said the government was grateful for the aid shipment from the United States that arrived on Monday but insisted that "skilful humanitarian workers are not necessary".
The US has said it hopes to send in two more transport aircraft carrying aid later on Tuesday. Two lorries carrying relief supplies overland have also now arrived in Rangoon. A BBC correspondent in Burma says some help is getting to those who need it, but aid distribution remains very patchy.
Aid workers have complained 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. 'Haphazard' delivery
They describe delivering supplies in the Irrawaddy Delta with dugout canoes, and say they are badly overstretched. The spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, Elizabeth Byrs, warned that its aid teams had only been able to reach 270,000 people - less than a fifth of the estimated total of survivors.
EXTENT OF THE DEVASTATION See map and satellite imagesBurmese begin to rebuildResilience amid Burma catastropheUrgent EU mission
"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 said.
So far, she said, the World Food Programme had been able to send only 361 tonnes of food aid - and distribute just 175 tonnes.
A further 55,000 tonnes of rice would be needed to feed those most in need for the next three months, Ms Byrs said. Half of the rice would need to be imported.
"The scope of the disaster is huge," she warned. "That's why we need to act quickly in order to avoid a second disaster or maybe a third disaster."
"We need a kind of air bridge or sea bridge, and huge means as... we did during the [2004 Asian] tsunami. It's the same kind of logistical operation. That's why it's urgently needed that we act now," she added.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told Burma's government there is not a moment to lose, warning that rice stocks in the country are "close to exhaustion".
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Emergency help has been held up by Burma's military leaders, who have accepted the aid but refuse to allow foreign experts to co-ordinate its delivery.
Aid agencies say much of the food and equipment 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.
The AFP news agency 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 one of its reporters.
'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 Rangoon's 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 class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/7398313.stm">Urgent EU mission 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 Mr Ban 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. 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.
But he added that this was "clearly nothing like enough for the scale of the problem we're trying to deal with". 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.
In the Irrawaddy delta, the area worst affected by the cyclone, people have been left without shelter, crops, and stored rice. The US has said it hopes to send in two more transport aircraft carrying aid later on Tuesday. Two lorries carrying relief supplies overland have also now arrived.
With little access to food or clean drinking water, they face cholera, fever and other illnesses.
Mr Ban said the UN had been able to reach some 270,000 people, providing only "the most rudimentary assistance".
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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