First US aid plane lands in Burma

BBC News | The first US aid flight to Burma following the devastating cyclone nine days ago has landed in Rangoon after a journey from an air base in Thailand.  Permission for the aircraft to land in Rangoon was granted after a week of talks with Burma’s military rulers.

Experts have warned that aid entering the country is vastly inadequate for the scale of the disaster.

They say help has reached less than one third of those in need – and say many thousands of people are still missing.

On Sunday, Burmese TV said the death toll had risen to 28,458, while 33,416 were missing.

Aid agencies, however, estimate that 100,000 have died and warn that this figure could rise to 1.5 million without provision of clean water and sanitation.

Nine days after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma’s low-lying Irrawaddy Delta region, survivors are beginning to gather in makeshift camps around the edges of the disaster zone.

The UN, which has launched a $187m (£96m) appeal for aid, says people urgently need food, water, shelter and medical aid.

Many are said to be dehydrated or suffering from injuries that have not been treated.

Fresh video footage has emerged that shows the extent of the suffering, including the corpses of children lined up in a makeshift morgue.

But there are some signs that Burma’s military leaders may be relaxing their stance on accepting foreign aid.

Firstly, the US plane was given permission to land. It was carrying 12,700kg of supplies including mosquito nets, blankets and water.

And three aircraft from medical relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres are due in the country later.

A number of other flights arrived over the weekend and some supplies were trucked across the border.

But many foreign experts are still waiting for visas to enter the country and on Sunday, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) said that the amount of aid getting to victims was “nowhere near the scale required”.

The US military says about 11,000 servicemen and four ships are in the region for an annual military exercise and could be harnessed to help.

But the junta is sticking to its line – foreign aid is acceptable, foreign aid workers are not.

“Aid from any nations [is] accepted, and delivery of relief goods can be handled by local organisations,” said minister for economic development, Soe Tha.

But he admitted in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper that some areas were still cut off.

“Supplies were dropped in flooded areas where the helicopters could not land,” he said.

UK Foreign Minister David Miliband said the military government’s attitude was helping to create a “humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions”.

Aid agencies warn of serious logistical hurdles getting supplies to affected areas.

Roads and bridges have been washed away, and heavy rain is forecast for the coming week, further complicating relief efforts.

On Sunday, a Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for 1,000 people in Bogalay town hit a submerged tree and sank.

Michael Annear, the IFRC’s disaster manager in Rangoon, described the sinking as “a big blow”.

The European Union is to hold an emergency meeting on getting aid to Burma on Tuesday – while Asean (The Association of South-East Asian Nations) says it will discuss the issue next Monday.