US: Myanmar faces disaster over lack of aid

By FOSTER KLUG Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The director of the U.S. office of foreign disaster assistance said Friday that skilled aid workers are being forced to sit on the sidelines as victims of last week's cyclone in Myanmar die. His comments reflect the mounting frustration among the United States and other countries as they wait for permission from the military-led government to begin trying to help.

Ky Luu urged the generals to allow access to foreign aid teams, including a group of U.S. specialists waiting in Thailand; he said desperately needed supplies are piling up on airport tarmacs.

"This is a very vulnerable population, and a shock of this magnitude is going to take people right off the cliff," Luu told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a foreign affairs think tank here.

He said the message to the junta is clear: If it allows U.S. officials in, "we will be able to make a difference."

"People are dying, and it's approaching a week," he said.

Luu spoke as Myanmar's ruling military junta seized two planeloads of critical aid sent by the U.N. The U.N. food program suspended help after the action, but later said it is sending two planes to Myanmar to help hungry and homeless survivors.

The United States and other donor countries continue to wait for permission to enter with tons of assistance and with disaster relief workers. Officials say up to 1.9 million people are homeless, injured or threatened by disease and hunger, and only one out of 10 have received some kind of aid in the six days since the cyclone hit.

Tony Banbury, Asia director for the U.N. World Food Program, said by satellite from Thailand that the "big issue" is: What are the Myanmar authorities going to do? The WFP, he said, will keep working, but "I don't think we have much leverage with the authorities."

"Our hands are getting more and more tied," he said. "The situation is obviously desperate."

Luu said U.S. officials are still working to try to get relief workers to the places they need to be to distribute supplies. Officials, he said, need to determine the state of the country's infrastructure so they can determine what they need to bring with them and what sort of conditions they will face when they begin working.