Gordon Brown has stepped up pressure on the Burmese government accusing the military regime of "inhuman" treatment of Cyclone Nargis victims.

The Prime Minister urged the ruling junta to stop blocking foreign aid amid dire warnings that many survivors are still without food, water and shelter.

Mr Brown said: "This is inhuman. We have an intolerable situation, created by a natural disaster.

"It is being made into a man-made catastrophe by the negligence, the neglect and the inhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act and to allow the international community to do what it wants to do."

He added: "The responsibility lies with the Burmese regime and they must be held accountable."

The Burmese government puts the official death toll from the cyclone at 78,000 although aid agencies have estimated the true figure is as high as 128,000.

The Prime Minister said forced air-drops of aid were being considered but added that charities had warned they could be "counter-productive".

He said: "We rule nothing out and the reason we rule nothing out is that we want to get the aid directly to the people".

The UN has warned disease and starvation could cause a "second catastrophe" on a greater scale than the storm itself.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Burma was now at a "critical point" more than a fortnight after the disaster.

He said: "Unless more aid gets into the country - quickly - we face the risk of an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dramatically worsen today's crisis".

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