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MAE SOT, Thailand: Myanmar residents living near the border with Thailand are crossing over to the northern town of Mae Sot to buy food and seek healthcare.
With the Myanmar border still closed to most foreigners, the closest place to get first-hand information about Cyclone Nargis' impact is Mae Sot in the mountains of northern Thailand.
With no airport or train station, it is a seven-hour drive from Bangkok. Through a friendship bridge, foreigners are usually allowed to enter Myanmar and stay in the border town of Myawaddy for a day. However, this access has been limited after the cyclone.
But Myanmar citizens can still pass freely into Mae Sot, although they cannot go further into Thailand. Myanmarese also seek basic healthcare in the clinics here which they cannot get in Myanmar.
However, the clinic workers said they have not seen any Nargis refugees seeking aid.
Myawaddy escaped relatively unharmed but many parts of the country remain underwater and more than a million people may be displaced.
Just how many and how badly will only be known when Myanmar opens the country to international aid. - CNA/vm
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