Associated Press
The Myanmar cyclone death toll soared above 22,000 on Tuesday. More than 41,000 other victims were missing as other countries mobilized to rush in aid after the country's deadliest storm on record, state radio reported.
Up to a million people may be homeless after Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma, early Saturday. Some villages have been almost totally eradicated, and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out, the UN World Food Programme said.
(See photos of the cyclone damage.)
Images from state television showed large trees and electricity poles sprawled across roads (watch video).
Roofless houses were shown ringed by large sheets of water in the Irrawaddy River Delta region, which is regarded as Myanmar's rice bowl.
"From the reports we are getting, entire villages have been flattened, and the final death toll may be huge," Mac Pieczowski, who heads the International Organization for Migration's office in Yangon (Rangoon), said in a statement.
"Cyclone" is the name given to a hurricane when it occurs in the northern Indian Ocean or, as is the case with Cyclone Nargis, the Bay of Bengal (see map). (Get the basics on hurricanes/cyclones.)
Aid Dilemma
U.S. President George W. Bush called on Myanmar's military junta to allow the United States to help with disaster assistance, saying the United States has already provided some assistance but wants to do more.
"We're prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation. But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster-assessment teams into the country," he said.
Bush spoke at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., where he signed legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Burmese democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest in Yangon.
Myanmar's military regime has signaled it will welcome aid supplies for victims of the devastating cyclone, the UN said Tuesday, clearing the way for a major relief operation from international organizations.
