Burma five days after Cyclone Nargis

 (NASA)
before & after

 

CBC:

The new estimates come as UN officials warn that delays in issuing visas to relief workers are hampering aid efforts and increasing the risk of a major health crisis.

A number of agencies continue to wait to be granted entry visas by the military junta, which has ruled the country since 1962. Aid groups and governments are asking Burma’s military rulers, wary of international scrutiny, to relax their tight grip on the country to allow humanitarian help into flood-ravaged areas.

Burma’s government authorized the United Nations to send in emergency supplies from Italy on Wednesday. It remained unclear where the UN aircraft, carrying 25 tonnes of aid, would land in Burma, also known as Myanmar, said Elisabeth Byrs, Geneva spokeswoman for UN relief efforts.

But permission was still pending for a UN co-ordination team to accompany the flight, Byrs said.

22 thousand dead
untold numbers wounded
41 thousand missing

 These agencies have indigenous workers on the ground. The window is closing, if water food and supplies cannot be delivered within the next 10 days thousands more will die.

Salvation Army

Mennonite Central Committee

World Vision

Christian Aid UK

Samaritans Purse Canada

Update: The UN has been permitted to land one of it’s planes