King, Queen send vital aid to surviving Burmese

The Royal Thai Air Force C-130 landed in the former capital of Rangoon carrying 2,000 sets of essential supplies.

Other aircraft from the United Nations and the International Red Cross, carrying more than 60 tonnes of aid, also landed in Rangoon.

Delivery to the survivors is painfully slow. Thousands of starving people were waiting along the sides of the roads to beg for food and water which is in critically short supply, Agence-France-Presse reported yesterday.

The international aid agency Oxfam said in the coming weeks and months the lives of up to 1.5 million people would be in danger in the cyclone zone due to the risk of disease and a public health catastrophe if clean water and sanitation are not urgently provided.

"With the likelihood of 100,000 or more killed in the cyclone, there are all the factors for a public health catastrophe which could multiply that death toll by up to 15 times in the coming period," said Oxfam's regional director for East Asia, Sarah Ireland.

People's resistance to disease was weakened daily because of lack of food and shelter, exposure to the elements and drinking surface water that is more than likely contaminated with human and animal waste. This created an effective breeding ground for diseases such as cholera, typhoid and shigella.

It remains unclear whether assistance will reach the victims on time.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej sent a letter with his special envoys to Burmese counterpart Thein Sein asking the junta to allow foreign relief teams to operate.

The United States and Britain through their respective ambassadors in Bangkok asked Samak to use his influence to facilitate Burmese visas for their aid workers.