Burma under pressure to let outside world help after cyclone kills hundreds

Hundreds of Burmese were reported last night to have been killed and many thousands more left homeless after a tropical cyclone tore through the country.

State-run media said that at least 350 people were believed dead and officials said they expected the final toll to be higher. On one offshore island, more than 90,000 people were said to have been left without shelter after Cyclone Nargis hit it at speeds of up to 120mph.

The country's largest city, Rangoon, was left without power and water as people began trying to rebuild their homes.

"The Burmese are saying they have never seen anything like this, ever," Shari Villarosa, the senior US diplomat in Rangoon, said. "Trees are down. Electricity lines are down. Our Burmese staff have lost their roofs. There is major devastation throughout the city."

The Category Three storm struck in the early hours of Saturday, just days before the country is due to vote in an important referendum about Burma's constitution. The ballot – which many observers say will be a referendum on the military regime that has ruled the country for two decades – is due to take place next weekend. There has been no word yet whether the vote will still be held.

Last night, there was criticism of the junta for not doing more to warn people of the storm, which had been gathering steam in the Bay of Bengal for several days. "This is yet another example of how the regime ignores the welfare of the people of Burma," said Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK.

"Instead of warning people about the potential danger, state-owned newspapers were full of propaganda telling people that they must vote for a sham constitution that will keep the military in power."

Relief workers scrambled in neighbouring Thailand in case Burma's rulers, who are normally distrustful of outsiders, did ask for assistance. But a senior UN official in Bangkok said the world body had yet to receive a response to its official offer of help.

Mr Farmaner said: "We know the regime won't look after people, and instead is likely to block delivery of aid. The international community must stand up to the regime and insist that aid is allowed to be delivered to those who are in need."

The British-based Christian Aid, which works with several other organisations in Burma, also said it was important for the regime to seek international help. "We hope that the international community and the Burmese government can work together to help those whose lives have been devastated by the cyclone," said a spokesman, Ray Hasan.

Though the Burmese authorities said that five areas had been declared disaster zones, with power and communications cut, the full extent of the damage caused by Nargis was unclear last night. It was evident, however, that some of the worst damage had been done in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta area and on several islands, where it had been anticipated that tides would rise by as much as three-and-a- half metres because of the storm.

A total of 162 people were said to have been killed on the island of Haing Gyi, located on the western fringes of the delta, and that 20,000 homes there had been destroyed. In Laputta and Kyaik Lat, two towns deep in the rice-producing region, official newspapers said only one in four buildings were left standing.

"The Irrawaddy delta was hit extremely hard, not only because of the wind and rain but because of the storm surge," said Chris Kaye, the UN's acting humanitarian co-ordinator in Rangoon.

In the former capital, Rangoon, the streets were littered with overturned cars, uprooted trees and debris from crumbling buildings. Meanwhile, the nation's recently constructed capital, Naypyidaw, which the regime built in a remote jungle area and where its leaders were hunkered down, is believed to have been spared the worst of the damage.

Burma is the poorest nation in South-east Asia with more than 90 per cent of the population living in poverty. Nargis will exacerbate their difficulties; in the immediate aftermath of the storm it was reported there had been a leap in the price of food and other necessities. In Rangoon, petrol had increased fourfold to more than £5 a gallon. The cost of construction supplies is also reported to have been rising.

Speculation will now turn to whether the regime will proceed with plans for the 10 May ballot on a new constitution. The new proposals have been widely criticised by Western governments and many Burmese exile groups as a way of further cementing the regime's control. The National League for Democracy, the opposition party headed by the imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, has urged people to vote 'no'.

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