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GENEVA - Myanmar's military rulers have approved a UN aid flight to take emergency supplies to the cyclone-hit country, a top UN relief agency said on Wednesday.
"The flight should leave Brindisi (in Italy) today with 25 tonnes of aid and some OCHA personnel on board," UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told AFP. "We hope that this spirit of openness will continue," she added.
Fast Facts
It is not yet known where the aircraft will go in Myanmar. Aid being transported from the UN's emergency depot in Brindisi, southern Italy, includes water purification tablets, generators, tents, tarpaulins, food, covers and mosquito nets, Byrs said.
Cyclone Nargis struck on May 2 and 3, leaving more than 60,000 people dead or missing. Entire towns were swept away, leaving huge numbers of homeless lacking adequate supplies of food and clean water. There are widespread fears that disease could now push the death toll still higher.
International agencies have painted a picture of devastation and say millions are homeless and without food and water - while disaster experts wait in limbo, blocked by Myanmar's secretive army rulers.
The extent of the suffering has put pressure on the army, which seized power in 1962 and has largely turned its back on the rest of the world ever since, to allow in foreign disaster teams.
OCHA warned in a briefing note that further delays in granting visas were putting thousands of lives at risk. "This is a critical moment for Myanmar's vulnerable populations. In the next few days assessments must be provided or thousands more could die," it said.
"The food security situation in the country, which was already severe, looks set to become far more acute," OCHA added, noting that the World Food Programme has already been able to distribute some food aid in Myanmar's main
city of Yangon, with another WFP flight due to land in the country on Thursday.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) also launched an emergency appeal on Wednesday for almost six million dollars to help cyclone victims. The appeal was for 6.29 million Swiss francs (US$5.9 million).
"The appeal will support those efforts already underway to reach affected communities with emergency shelter kits, water, mosquito nets and other items," said a federation statement.
More than one million people may be displaced because of the storm, said John Sparrow, spokesman for the federation in Kuala Lumpur.
Over past days, Red Cross volunteers have been distributing basic relief items and teams of volunteers have also been through some of the worst affected areas along the Irrawaddy delta, assessing damage and needs of communities.
Individual offers of help have continued to flood in from around the world, including two million euros from the European Union, 10 million dollars from Britain and one million dollars from China. - AFP/al
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