YANGON: UN humanitarian chief John Holmes arrived in Myanmar on Tuesday for a three-day trip to see how the military-run nation is coping after a devastating cyclone, an airport official said.

Holmes landed in Yangon at about 10:00am (0330 GMT) and took a helicopter straight to areas worst-hit by Cyclone Nargis, which left about 138,000 people dead or missing when it battered southern Myanmar in early May.

"He arrived in Yangon and now he is going to the Irrawaddy Delta," a government official at the airport told AFP, asking not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to media.

The United Nations said in a statement that their humanitarian envoy would "make a rapid aerial assessment of the delta area".

Holmes, who flew in from Singapore where he attended a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will return to Yangon later Tuesday and meet with aid workers and donors on Wednesday.

On Thursday, he will travel to Myanmar's isolated new capital Naypyidaw to meet with government representatives, the UN said, before leaving the country.

It is not yet clear which government officials he will be able to meet.

This will be the envoy's second visit to Myanmar since the cyclone hit, causing major damage to infrastructure and creating a humanitarian emergency.

Myanmar's ruling generals - wary of any outside interference - at first blocked entry to many foreign aid workers and relief shipments, and only relented after a personal visit by UN head Ban Ki-moon.

ASEAN on Monday released a report saying that rebuilding Myanmar's cyclone-devastated south and bringing aid to millions of survivors will cost US$1 billion over the next three years.

- AFP/yb