Report: 10,000 Dead In Single Myanmar Town

Myanmar's official media said Tuesday that 10,000 people were killed by a cyclone in just one town, confirming fears of a spiraling death toll from the storm's 12-foot tidal surges and high winds that swept away bamboo homes in low-lying coastal regions.

The ruling junta, an authoritarian regime which cut the nation off from the international community for decades, appealed for foreign aid to help in the recovery from Saturday's disaster, the country's deadliest storm on record.

The casualty count has been rising quickly as authorities reach hard-hit islands and villages in the Irrawaddy delta, the country's major rice-producing region, which bore the brunt of Cyclone Nargis's 120-mile-per hour winds.

Myanmar Foreign Minister told diplomats in Yangon Monday that, overall, more than 10,000 people may have died when Cyclone Nargis struck Saturday.

But on Tuesday, state television confirmed fears of a rapidly rising toll, reporting that 10,000 perished in the town of Bogalay in the country's Irrawaddy delta.

The cyclone came just a week before a crucial referendum on a military-backed constitution that the ruling junta hoped would go smoothly in its favor, despite opposition from the country's feisty pro-democracy movement.

The disaster could stir the already tense political situation ahead of a referendum on a draft charter, several analysts said.

No one knows how many are now homeless, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen. Estimates range from 90,000 and up.

Hundreds of thousands of people are without clean drinking water, said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok, Thailand for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The disaster puts the government's credibility on the line, as general anger could build if relief efforts are not accelerated.

There was little sign of official efforts to repair the damage in Yangon, but the worst-hit areas were in the countryside, now inaccessible by road because of storm damage.

"The combination of the cyclone and the referendum within a few days of each other makes an angry population angrier and vulnerable and makes the political situation more volatile" than it has been since last year's massive pro-democracy demonstrations, said Monique Skidmore, a Myanmar expert at Australian National University.

Last September, 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.

"This is not likely to change anything, but this might just add to the discontent that is so evident in the society," said David Steinberg, a Myanmar expert at Georgetown University.

Relief Minister Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Swe said at the meeting with diplomats that the referendum could be postponed by "a few days" in the worst-affected areas, but state media indicated Monday that the May 10 date was still set.

The diplomats said they were told Myanmar welcomed international humanitarian aid including urgently needed roofing materials, medicine, water purifying tablets and mosquito nets. The first shipment of 9 tons was scheduled to arrive from Thailand on Tuesday.

The appeal for assistance was unusual for Myanmar's ruling generals, who have long been suspicious of the international organizations and have closely controlled their activities. Several agencies, including the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, have limited their presence 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.

The cyclone was the greatest recorded natural disaster in Myanmar, also known as Burma, since a storm killed 2,700 people in 1926.

The government had apparently taken few efforts to prepare for the storm, which came bearing down on the country from the Bay of Bengal late Friday. Weather warnings were broadcast on television saying that winds could reach 120-150 mph and tides could rise as much as 12 feet above normal levels.

The bulletins did not urge citizens to take shelter.

Attempts to alert the public via the television would have been largely fruitless anyway because the electricity supply is so spotty in Myanmar that few households, especially in poor rural areas, would have seen the warning.

No firsthand reports have emerged from the worst hit areas of the delta, which are barely above sea level. The government has not given information on the cause of most of the deaths, but bamboo shanties with thatch or zinc roofs are standard housing in the area, and would have been swept way with their inhabitants by the onrushing tidal surge.

"Once the storm subsided, people were walking out to assess the damage and were shocked at everything around them," said Pamela Sitko, communication relief manager for the Asia-Pacific region for the private aid agency World Vision. "One 11-year-old boy said he had to run backwards to take shelter in a school during the storm because the wind was so strong."

World Vision said Myanmar's government had invited it "to provide assistance in the form of zinc sheets, tents, tarpaulins and medicine."

"The agency is coordinating with authorities to explore an airlift of emergency supplies into the country from one of its global warehouses," the group said in a statement.

"The biggest concern is communication because the electricity is down, running water has stopped, phone lines are down and it is difficult to assess the real needs because we can't reach the outer-lying regions," said Sitko.

Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D'Affairs in Rangoon, told CBS Radio News that once the storm cleared out, people were overwhelmed by the extent of the devastation.

"Everybody came out and was just stunned," Villarosa said. "People on my compound, who have been here 15 years, told me they have never seen anything like this here ever."

Residents of Yangon, a city of some 6.5 million, said they were angry that the government failed to properly warn them of the approaching storm and has so far done little to alleviate their plight.

"The government misled people. They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared," said Thin Thin, a grocery store owner.

Yangon, where officials said 59 people died, was without electricity except where gas-fed generators were available and residents lined up to buy candles at double last week's prices.

With pumps not working, most homes were without water, forcing families to stand in long lines for drinking water and bathe in the city's lakes.

Most telephone land lines appeared to be restored by late Monday, but mobile phones and Internet connections were down.

With the city plunged into almost total darkness overnight, security concerns mounted, and many shops sold their goods through partially opened doors or iron grills. Looting was reported at several fresh food markets, where thieves took vegetables and other items.

Some in Yangon complained that the 400,000-strong military was only clearing streets where the ruling elite resided but leaving residents, including Buddhist monks, to cope on their own in most other areas.

"There are some army trucks out to clear the roads, but most of the work was done with a dah (knife) by the people. But some of these tree trunks are 4 feet thick," said Barry Broman, a retired U.S. State Department officer who was visiting Yangon when the cyclone struck. "Thousands of trees were uprooted. All the roads were blocked by the trees."

At Yangon's notorious Insein prison, 36 prisoners were killed and about 70 others wounded when guards opened fire during a moment of chaos when the storm hit Saturday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an activist exile group based in Thailand.

Diplomats in Yangon gave a similar account, though a government official denied there were any deaths. Nearby residents said there had been a fire at the prison, but knew no other details.

Although relief talks with the government were still ongoing, the U.N.'s Horsey said it appeared the United Nations had the green light to send in a team to assess the storm's damage as early as Tuesday.

In Washington, the State Department said the U.S. Embassy in Yangon had declared the situation a "disaster" and authorized an emergency contribution of $250,000 to help with relief efforts. But it added that Myanmar's government had initially refused to allow a U.S. Disaster Assistance Response Team into the country to assess damage.

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.

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 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for almost 12 of the past 18 years.