Finally, UN aid for Nargis victims

Junta not allowing in US military planes, so airdrop being considered Toll could touch 1 lakh.

Myanmar’s isolationist regime allowed the first plane of a major international airlift to land on Thursday with aid for cyclone survivors, a UN official said, amid fears that lack of safe food and drinking water could push the death toll above 100,000.

But the junta was not allowing US military planes to fly in critical relief goods and continued to stall on visas for UN teams urgently seeking entry to ensure aid is delivered to the victims.

The US is looking at the possibility of dropping aid to victims if the junta does not allow military planes in. US foreign disaster assistance director Ky Luu said airdrops were one one option.

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A UN official said one airplane from Italy arrived in Yangon while three more would land later on Thursday. The official did not wish to be named because she was not authorised to speak to the media.

Four planes loaded with high-energy biscuits, medicine and other supplies have waited for the last two days while frustrated UN officials negotiated with the military regime to allow the material into the Southeast Asian nation.

The US Ambassador to Thailand Eric John told reporters that US and Thai authorities earlier believe they had permission from Myanmar to land US military C-130s. But Myanmar officials later made it clear that this was not the case.

John said it was not clear if they had reversed an earlier decision or if there was a misunderstanding.

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Thailand’s Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej offered to negotiate on Washington’s behalf to persuade the junta to accept US aid.

Myanmar’s state media said Cyclone Nargis killed at least 22,980 people and left 42,119 missing, mostly in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta. But a top US diplomat said Wednesday the toll could exceed 100,000.

Entire villages in the delta were still submerged from the storm, and bloated corpses could be seen stuck in the mangroves. Some survivors stripped clothes off the dead. People wailed as they described the horror of the torrent swept ashore by the cyclone.

“I don’t know what happened to my wife and young children,” said Phan Maung, 55, who held onto a coconut tree until the water level dropped. By then his family was gone.

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The WHOhas received reports of malaria outbreaks in the worst-affected area, and fears of waterborne illnesses surfacing due to dirty water and poor sanitation also remained a concern, said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, deputy director of WHO’s Southeast Asia office in New Delhi.

“Safe water, sanitation, safe food. These are things that we feel are priorities at the moment,” she said.

Myanmar’s generals, traditionally paranoid about foreign influence, issued an appeal for foreign aid.