day while the U.N. pleaded with the country's military rulers to cooperate with the international community in helping up to 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation. The unarmed military C-130 cargo plane, packed with supplies, flew out of the Thai air force base of Utapao for Yangon, capping prolonged negotiations to persuade Myanmar's junta to accept U.S. help. Two more air shipments were scheduled to land Tuesday.
Myanmar's junta said Sunday the official death toll from May 3's Cyclone Nargis had jumped by about 5,000 to 28,458 with another 33,416 still missing.
But Richard Horsey, a spokesman for U.N. humanitarian operations, said a toll of 100,000 dead or missing was possible based on "reports that we are receiving from our teams in the field from the authorities there."
"It's still a very serious situation. There are up to 2 million people in urgent need of assistance. Assistance is getting through," but not fast enough, he told The Associated Press in Bangkok, Thailand.
"There are four key requirements in any situation like this: clean drinking water, shelter, medical support and food," Horsey said. All are sorely lacking, he said.
In the worst-affected Irrawaddy delta, people were surviving in miserable conditions - hundreds cramped in monasteries, sleeping on the floor. Others were camping in the open, drinking dirty water contaminated by human feces or dead bodies and animal carcasses.
Heavy rains were forecast this week, which would further hinder aid delivery.
"So far we have enough water by collecting rain. But we do not have food anymore," said U Patanyale, the abbot of a monastery in Pyapon town in the delta.
The junta has been sharply criticized for its handling of the disaster, from failing to provide adequate warnings about the approaching storm to responding slowly to offers of help.
Though international assistance has started trickling in, the few foreign relief workers who have been allowed entry have been restricted to Yangon. Only a handful have succeeded in getting past checkpoints into the worst-affected areas.
The government is also insisting on handling the aid distribution through its feared military, which has ruled the isolated country since 1962.
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