Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Myanmar cyclone toll may top 100,000 : U.S. diplomat

Posted 2:05 pm EDT

— Myanmar's military government came under pressure on Wednesday to open its borders to international help after a devastating cyclone that a U.S. diplomat said may have killed more than 100,000 people.
The top U.N. humanitarian official urged Myanmar to waive visa restrictions for aid workers and customs clearance for goods which he said were slowing efforts to bring in disaster relief experts and supplies to help an estimated 1 million people affected by Cyclone Nargis.
A U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said diplomats there were receiving information that there could have been more than 100,000 deaths from the cyclone that smashed into coastal towns and villages in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta southwest of Yangon.
"The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area," Shari Villarosa, the charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar, told reporters on a conference call from Yangon.