Report: 22,000 dead
UN officials: Myanmar cyclone a ‘major, major disaster’

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YANGON, Myanmar — Hungry crowds of survivors stormed the few shops that opened in Myanmar’s stricken Irrawaddy delta, where food and international aid has been scarce since a devastating cyclone killed more than 22,000 people, the U.N. said today.

Corpses floated in salty flood waters and witnesses said survivors tried desperately to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails. The U.N. said some 1 million people were homeless in the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma.

“Basically the entire lower delta region is under water,” said Richard Horsey, Bangkok-based spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid.

“Teams are talking about bodies floating around in the water,” he said. This is “a major, major disaster we’re dealing with.”

But a massive international aid effort was being kept on hold by Myanmar’s military rulers. Internal U.N. documents obtained by The Associated Press showed growing frustrations at foot-dragging by the junta, which has kept the impoverished nation isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control.

“Visas are still a problem. It is not clear when it will be sorted out,” according to the minutes of a meeting of the U.N. task force coordinating relief for Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday.

It said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “will contact Myanmar” today to arrange a meeting with high-ranking officials on the issue.

State media in military-ruled Myanmar said more than 22,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis blasted the country’s western coast on Saturday and over 41,000 others were missing. But Horsey predicted the number of fatalities could rise “dramatically.”

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