More than 10,000 people were killed in a
devastating cyclone that hit western Burma on Saturday, Foreign
Minister Nyan Win has said on state TV.
He said his government was ready to accept international assistance.
Aid shipments are now being prepared.
Thousands of survivors of Cyclone Nargis are lacking shelter, drinking
water, power and communications.
The United States offered to increase aid offered if Burma agreed to
allow a US team access to assess the situation.
First Lady Laura Bush, who takes a special interest in Burma, urged
Burma to accept $250,000 (£126,000) already allocated for
emergency aid, and said more would be available if the team was allowed
into the country.
She also accused the Burmese authorities of failing to give a "timely
warning" about the approaching storm, after which five regions - home
to 24 million people - have been declared disaster zones.
Sea surge
Expressing his sadness at the scale of the disaster, UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon confirmed that UN officials were meeting Burmese
government representatives to discuss how to help.
If the toll is confirmed, Nargis is now the world's deadliest storm
since a 1999 cyclone in India killed 10,000 people.
Nargis hit the south-east Asian country on Saturday with wind speeds
reaching 190km/h (120mph). It brought with it a sea surge that smashed
through towns and villages.
Earlier on Monday, the death toll was being put at 351 but the foreign
minister later went on TV to announce the figure of at least 10,000.
With information still coming in, he warned the toll could yet rise.
The towns of Bogalay and Laputta, in the region of Irrawaddy, are among
those locations particularly badly hit, state media have reported.
None of the casualty figures have been independently confirmed.
The BBC is not permitted to report from Burma, also known as Myanmar.
Houses 'skeletal'
Thousands of buildings have been flattened, power lines downed, trees
uprooted, roads blocked and water supplies disrupted.
A Rangoon resident who spoke to relatives in Laputta told BBC Burmese
that 75% to 80% of the town had been destroyed.
Houses along the coast had been reduced to skeletal structures, 16
villages had been virtually wiped out and no help had reached Laputta,
he said.
Pictures on state TV show security services working to clear roads but
in Rangoon and elsewhere there are complaints that the response to the
disaster has been weak.
"Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive
when there were protests in the streets last year," a retired
government worker complained to Reuters news agency.
He was referring to protests led by Buddhist monks last year that were
quickly put down.
Earlier, a BBC journalist monitoring the situation in Burma from
Bangkok, Soe Win, said the shortages of power and water were
particularly critical.
Local people were saying that if the situation continued for another
two or three days, it would be really difficult for them, he reported.
Aid assessment
Several hundred thousand people are in need of shelter and clean
drinking water, UN disaster response official Richard Horsey said.
But damage to roads and communications mean it is impossible to tell
the true extent of the situation, he added.
Prices of food, fuel and basic necessities have also risen dramatically.
The UN and international aid agencies are sending assessment teams to
the worst-hit areas and shipments are being prepared.
Thailand has announced it is flying in a transport plane loaded with
nine tonnes of food and medicines and India is sending two naval ships
carrying food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicines.
The US, which released an immediate funding package of $250,000
(£127,000) to be channelled through the UN, said that Burmese
authorities had refused permission for an American disaster assistance
response team to enter.
Meanwhile, Burma's military junta has said a referendum on a new
national constitution will go ahead on Saturday. People were "eagerly
looking forward to voting", it said.
But some people are now wondering if this natural disaster could have
serious political repercussions, reports the BBC's Andrew Harding in
the Thai capital Bangkok.
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