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KANZEIK, Myanmar : Nearly a month after a cyclone tore through swathes of Myanmar, residents in this Irrawaddy Delta village are only now getting the plastic sheets and clean water that should have arrived long ago.
As the village head screamed orders telling people to collect the supplies brought by foreign agencies, families who lived through Cyclone Nargis needed little encouragement -- queuing up outside the monastery within minutes.
"I was so happy once I saw the aid boat entering the village," Kyaw, a 35-year-old villager with four children, told AFP in the badly-hit village of Kanzeik.
"I'm so glad that I got what I really need for my family now. At least our family can live safely under the rain for this year."
In the crucial days immediately after the May 2-3 cyclone, which left 133,000 people dead or missing, Myanmar's ruling military government blocked entry to overseas aid workers trying to reach some 2.4 million survivors.
Supplies are now trickling through to worst-hit areas following intense UN diplomacy, but the military government, notoriously suspicious of the West, is still wary of what is coming in.
"We would warmly welcome any assistance and aid which are provided with genuine goodwill from any country or organisation, provided that there are no strings attached, or politicisation involved," Deputy Defence Minister Aye Myint told a forum in Singapore on Sunday.
He said officials were now concentrating on reconstruction after a cyclone which the government estimates caused more than 10 billion dollars in damage.
"For those groups who are interested in rehabilitation and reconstruction, we are ready to accept them in accordance with our priorities," he added.
But aid workers already in the impoverished country and heading to remote villages are still finding people without clean water and at risk of disease.
"We hope the aid to the delta region can increase. Even already it has been 25 days after the storm -- people still need help," said one aid worker with the Japan branch of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
With the monsoon rains now hitting hard, survivors are at increased risk of respiratory infections, MSF said in a statement.
And although more visas are being issued to foreign staff, they said it was still not enough.
"Normally, in a situation like this, MSF would send in a lot more international staff with experience in emergency response to natural disasters," the group said.
"Our aid effort has been hampered by restrictions on international staff presence in the delta."
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Saturday criticised Myanmar government's delay in allowing in foreign aid, saying US ships and aircraft could have swiftly brought much-needed relief to the cyclone-hit nation.
The delays, he told the security forum in Singapore, could have cost "tens of thousands of lives".
The International Labour Organisation said it was now concerned the government could use forced labour to rebuild areas of the country devastated by Cyclone Nargis, and must be closely watched over.
There is an "increased risk of incidences of forced labour, child labour, human trafficking and migrant labour" following the disaster, the UN organisation said in a report out of Yangon presented Saturday.
With crucial supplies now arriving, aid groups hope storm victims can think about returning to the fields in this key rice-growing area.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has warned that the next rice planting season must go ahead in early June to prevent a food shortage.
"I am so thankful for all the support -- the food, shelter and clothes provided from different donors," said one paddy field worker. "Because of their care to us, I can go back to work once the rice fields are ready."
- AFP/ir
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