But UN workers were still awaiting their visas to enter the country, said Elisabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"The government has shown a certain openness so far," Byrs said. "We hope that we will get the visas as soon as possible, in the coming hours. I think the authorities have understood the seriousness of the situation and that they will act accordingly."
The appeal for outside assistance was unusual for Myanmar's ruling generals, who have long been suspicious of international organizations and closely controlled their activities. Several agencies, including the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, have limited their presence in Myanmar as a consequence.
Allowing any major influx of foreigners could carry risks for the military, injecting unwanted outside influence and giving the aid givers, rather than the junta, credit for a recovery.
However, keeping out international aid would focus blame squarely on the military, should it fail to restore peoples' livelihoods.
Some aid agencies reported their assessment teams had reached some areas of the largely isolated region but said getting in supplies and large numbers of aid workers would be difficult.
Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Yangon, told NBC TV's Today show that the cyclone had knocked huge trees down in the country's largest city.
"And it blew down a significant portion of them, some of these are six, eight, ten stories tall—huge trees, 6 feet [180 centimeters], 5 feet [150 centimeters] in diameter. So they came down on roofs," she said.
Referendum to Go Forward
The cyclone came only a week ahead of a key referendum on a constitution that Myanmar's military leaders hoped would go smoothly in its favor, despite opposition from the country's pro-democracy movement. However, the disaster could stir the already tense political situation.
State radio also said that Saturday's vote would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and 7 in the Irrawaddy Delta, which took the brunt of the weekend storm. The radio report indicated that the balloting would proceed in other areas as scheduled.
The decision to go forward with the vote drew swift criticism from dissidents and human rights groups who question the credibility of the vote and urged the junta to focus on disaster victims.
Myanmar's generals have hailed the referendum as an important step forward in their "roadmap to democracy."
The vote offers the first chance for residents to cast ballots since 1990, and the probability is high that voters will approve the constitution. The country has lacked a legal framework for two decades.
But critics, including the United Nations, the United States, and human rights groups, question whether it will lead to democracy.
Political Strife
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Its government has been widely criticized for suppression of pro-democracy parties such as the one led by Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been under house arrest for almost 12 of the past 18 years.
At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained when the military cracked down on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks and democracy advocates in September 2007. (Related video: "Monks 'Vanish' at Myanmar Monasteries" [October 11, 2007].)
Washington has long been one of the ruling junta's sharpest critics for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
