Aid reaches burma as toll in disaster soars to 15,000

International aid is beginning to flow into Burma as the death toll from cyclone Nargis climbs to an estimated 15,000 with more than one million people left homeless.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej yesterday sent a message to Rangoon expressing condolences for the tragic loss of life and property. His Cabinet approved initial relief of Bt3.2 million, as well as pledged to help its neighbour recover.

Already Thailand has airlifted more than US$400,000 (Bt12.8 million) worth of food, drinking water and medical supplies, Foreign Minister Noppa-don Pattama said.

Other Asian nations have rallied around Burma to offer assistance after a rare appeal for help from the nation's military junta.

China said it would send $1 million in emergency aid in batches, some of it in cash, to help reconstruction.

Economic giant Japan offered 28 million yen (Bt8.5 million) in emergency aid including tents, electric power generators and other goods.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations appealed for "generous" international aid, with secretary-general Surin Pitsu-wan saying the group has begun to mobilise help through coordination centres in its capitals.

Singapore, which has close ties to Burma, expressed solidarity and pledged $200,000.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said her country was willing to provide aid - but only through UN agencies.

Australia was "ready, willing and able" to send aid, while South Korea announced it would provide Burma with emergency materials worth $100,000.

Washington released an initial sum of $250,000, while Canada has pledged $2 million in humanitarian assistance.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the organisation "will do whatever [necessary] to provide urgent humanitarian assistance", and stressed that

a disaster management team was ready to leave for Burma.

The European Union also released ¤2 million (Bt99 million) in initial emergency aid.

State radio said Saturday's vote on a military-backed draft constitution would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Rangoon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win was quoted by state-run television as saying over 10,000 people had perished in the low-lying delta and a smaller number died in and around Rangoon, the country's largest city.

"News and data are still being collected, so there may be many more casualties," he said.

Information Minister Maj General Kyaw Hsan said about 4,000 people had died in the two areas while 10,000 more may have perished in the delta, mostly from tidal waves.

The UN World Food Pro-gramme, which was preparing to fly in food supplies, offered a grim assessment of the destruction - up to a million people homeless, some villages almost totally destroyed and vast rice-growing areas wiped out.

Satellite images from the United Nations show  the  damage was concentrated over about a 30,000sqm area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines - less than 5 per cent of the country.

Five states devastated

The Nation

Cyclone Nargis has devastated five states of Burma which are predominantly agricultural societies, with the rural poor hardest hit.

The offshore operations of Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production, one of the largest foreign investors in Burma, were unaffected by Nargis, said CEO Anon Sirisaengtaksin.

The Thai Fisheries Association reported no damage to Thai fishing vessels operating under concessions in Burmese waters due to good communications equipment.

However, a Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) spokesperson in Bangkok said damage was expected to Burma's annual crops, particularly rice, oil palm and rubber.

Based on preliminary assessments received from FAO resident staff, the five farm states hit by Nargis produce 65 per cent of the country's rice and have about 50 per cent of all irrigated farmland.

Rubber plantations in the affected states cover some 20 per cent of the national total, while livestock production, fish and shrimp farms were also damaged.

Bloomberg reported Burma may be forced to import rice after crops were wiped out, potentially adding further pressure to global food supplies as prices rise. Rice futures rebounded.

"We know that the damage is huge," Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said on Bloomberg Television.