Death toll 'will rise' if Burma continues to block aid access

AID agencies today warned that a second wave of deaths would follow the Burma cyclone disaster unless the country's military regime allowed relief supplies to reach up to 2.5 million people in need of help.

The Red Cross estimated that the cyclone death toll could now be as high as 128,000 – a much higher figure than the 38,491 given by the Burmese government, which continued to issue few visas to foreign aid experts and all but shut them out of the hardest-hit area.

The grim forecast came as heavy rains drenched the devastated Irrawaddy River delta, disrupting aid operations already struggling to reach people in urgent need of food, water and shelter.

Shantha Bloemen, a spokeswoman for Unicef, said: "Another couple of days exposed to those conditions can only lead to worsening health conditions and compound the stress people are living in."

Aid agencies were preparing to move in a wide-range of relief supplies including material for temporary shelters, rice, drinking water, kitchen utensils and medicines.

Burma has so far mostly limited the few international aid workers in the country to Rangoon, the country's biggest city, and used police to keep foreigners out of the delta.