Official mourning under way in Burma

Updated 07.17 Tue May 20 2008

Keywords: cyclone nargis, burma, cyclone

Burma is starting three days of mourning for those killed by Cyclone Nargis.

Around 134,000 people are dead or missing after the cyclone which wreaked havoc along the Irrawaddy Delta.

Burma's ruling military junta appeared to relent to foreign pressure to allow more outside help for survivors in the face of global outrage

Burma's ruling military junta appeared to relent to foreign pressure to allow more outside help for survivors in the face of global outrage.

The regime has agreed to allow its Asian neighbours to oversee the distribution of foreign relief to survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

It also approved a visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and prepared to host a meeting of aid donors, while claiming that losses from the May 2-3 disaster exceeded £5 billion.

Conditions remain difficult for the survivors who face disease, malnutrition and exposure to the elements.

Heavy rain has been falling on the area again, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), noting that such weather can have the benefit of providing clean water for those able to catch the downpour in plastic sheeting.

The IFRC is still concerned about the distribution of relief supplies, saying that reports indicated that in most of the bigger affected townships, basic relief and food is available but much less so in the more remote areas.

It said there seemed to be problems, even at some of the temporary relief camps set up by the government.

Charities such as Save the Children and other aid agencies have also been supplying aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis, but many fear it still fails to reach the thousands of people stranded without help.

Burma promised it would let them into the cyclone-devastated areas to oversee and help in the provision of foreign assistance.

In Singapore, an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the ten countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to set up an ASEAN-led task force for redistributing foreign aid.

Myanmar agreed to open its doors to medical teams from all ASEAN countries.