Powerful cyclone kills at least 351 in Myanmar, concerns emerge about international aid

Older citizens said they had never seen Yangon, a city of some 6.5 million, so devastated in their lifetimes.

Despite the havoc wreaked by tropical cyclone Nargis across wide swaths of the Southeast Asian country on Saturday, the government indicated that a referendum on the country's draft constitution would proceed as planned on May 10.

"It's only a few days left before the coming referendum and people are eager to cast their vote," the state-owned newspaper Myanma Ahlin said Monday.

Pro-democracy groups in the country and many international critics have branded the constitution as merely a tool for the military's continued grip on power.

Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box.

The Foreign Ministry called resident ambassadors to a meeting Monday and some diplomats said they expected the government to request foreign emergency assistance.

Some in Yangon complained that the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help victims after Saturday's storm, only clearing streets where the ruling elite resided but leaving residents to cope on their own in most other areas.

"Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?" a trishaw driver, who refused to be identified for fear of retribution, said Sunday. "They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity."

Residents, as well as Buddhist monks from the city's many monasteries, banded together Monday, wielding axes and knives to clear roads of tree trunks and branches torn off by the cyclones 190 kph (120 mph) winds.

With the city's already unstable electricity supply virtually nonfunctional, citizens lined up to buy candles, which doubled in price, as well as water since a lack of electricity-driven pumps left most households dry. Some walked to the city's lakes to wash.

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