Myanmar-Burma Cyclone Death Toll Climbs Past 60,000 100,000

It's a far cry from the 351 acknowledged by the junta a day after the cyclone came ashore on Saturday as the death toll soared past 60,000. Thousands remain unaccounted for and the death toll will continue climbing, not only directly from the storm, but from the failure to provide adequate food, shelter, and medical care to the survivors.

The number of dead and missing in the Burma cyclone soared past 60,000 Tuesday amid signs the toll will rise even higher, as much of the disaster zone remained flooded by seawater, threatened by disease and out of reach of an international relief operation that is taking shape.

President Bush offered to send U.S. Navy units to help in the operation, and sharply criticized Burma's military-run government for delays in approving visas for emergency teams. Burmese dissident groups took issue with the timing of the administration's criticism, suggesting it could complicate the relief effort.

Emergency supplies began arriving by air in wind-battered Rangoon, the largest city in Burma. But little or no aid reached the Irrawaddy Delta, a vast and low-lying rice-producing region that absorbed the storm's worst fury. Satellite photos showed catastrophic flooding of fields and villages as far inland as 35 miles.

A tidal wave that accompanied the cyclone was more deadly than the winds, Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told reporters in Rangoon. "The wave was up to 12 feet high, and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said. "They did not have anywhere to flee."

The fact is that the junta is simply overwhelmed by the disaster and they're still trying to do things the way that they've always done them - limiting access to the country and that means that aid will continue to be delayed in getting to those most in need of assistance. Still, the fact that the junta has actually asked for some international assistance is a sign that they're beginning to realize just how badly damaged their country has become.

Of course, none of this would be complete without the requisite bashing of the Bush Administration and their demands that the junta speed up their approval process to enable relief efforts, along with First Lady Laura Bush's criticism that the junta didn't provide sufficient warning to those living in low lying areas.

The junta and their mouthpieces turned around and criticized the Administration over its handling of Hurricane Katrina, despite the fact that the Administration was bound by the Posse Comitatus Act to not send in federal assistance without state approval, which Gov. Blanco was late in providing, to say nothing of the massive failures of the Louisiana state and local officials who did not evacuate their most vulnerable citizens in a timely fashion or provide emergency assistance (Ray Nagin Memorial Motor Pool anyone?).

The junta's response is merely a lame attempt to try and deflect attention from its massive failures - to place blame elsewhere than on the junta. Opposition groups have also criticized Mrs. Bush's statements, and that is somewhat understandable since they want to make sure that aid arrives swiftly, but if anything, they need to be putting even greater pressure on the junta to open up and waive their visa requirements so that aid can be delivered promptly.

UPDATE:
The death toll continues rising, and it's now believed that more than 100,000 perished in the cyclone and resulting storm surge.

"The information we are receiving indicates over 100,000 deaths," the U.S. Charge D'Affaires in Yangon, Shari Villarosa, said on a conference call.

The U.S. figure is almost five times more than the 22,000 the Myanmar government has estimated.

The U.S. estimate is based on data from an international non-governmental organization, Villarosa said without naming the group. She called the situation in Myanmar "more and more horrendous."

Villarosa also said about 95 percent of the buildings in the delta region were destroyed when Cyclone Nargis battered the area late Friday into Saturday.

Based on the same data, 70,000 people are missing in the Irrawaddy Delta, which has a population of nearly six million people, Villarosa said. The official Myanmar government figure for the missing is 41,000.

Little aid has reached the area since Nargis hit, and on Wednesday crowds of hungry survivors stormed reopened shops in the devastated Irrawaddy delta.