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05.05.2008 16:20 - category: World News : CBS News
- Source: CBSAlmost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station said Monday.
Foreign Minister Nyan Win told foreign diplomats at a briefing that the death toll could reach 10,000, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was held behind closed doors.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma, early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph. The cyclone blew roofs off hospitals and schools and cut electricity in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.
The government had previously put the death toll countrywide at 351 before increasing it Monday to 3,939.
The radio station broadcasting from the country's capital, Naypyitaw, said that 2,879 more people are unaccounted for in a single town, Bogalay, in the country's low-lying Irrawaddy River delta area where the storm wreaked the most havoc.
The situation in the countryside remained unclear because of poor communications and roads left impassable by the storm.
"It's clear that we're dealing with a very serious situation. The full extent of the impact and needs will require an extensive on-the-ground assessment," said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok, Thailand for United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"What is clear at this point is that there are several hundred thousands of people in dire need of shelter and clean drinking water," Horsey said.
Reporter Andrew Chant tells CBS Radio News that the International Red Cross, who has managed to get some teams to the area, reports that there is pretty much nothing left of the villages.
At a meeting with foreign diplomats and representatives of U.N. and international aid agencies, Myanmar's foreign ministry officials said they welcomed international humanitarian assistance and urgently need roofing materials, plastic sheets and temporary tents, medicine, water purifying tablets, blankets and mosquito nets.
Neighboring Thailand announced that it would fly some aid in Tuesday.
Older citizens said they had never seen Yangon, a city of some 6.5 million, so devastated in their lifetimes.
With the city's already unstable electricity supply virtually nonfunctional, citizens lined up to buy candles, which doubled in price, and water since lack of electricity-driven pumps left most households dry. Some walked to the city's lakes to wash.
Hotels and richer families were using private generators but only sparingly, given the soaring price of fuel.
Many stayed away from their jobs, either because they could not find transportation or because they had to seek food and shelter for their families.
"Without my daily earning, just survival has become a big problem for us," said Tin Hla, who normally repairs umbrellas at a roadside stand.
With his home destroyed by the storm, Tin Hla said he has had to place his family of five into one of the monasteries that have offered temporary shelter to those left homeless.
Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D'Affairs in Rangoon, told CBS Radio News that once the storm cleared out, people were overwhelmed by the extent of the devastation.
"Everybody came out and was just stunned," Villarosa said. "People on my compound, who have been here 15 years, told me they have never seen anything like this here ever."
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