Myanmar cyclone victims getting spoiled food

The U.N. said the World Food Program is getting in only 20 percent of the food needed because of bottlenecks, logistics problems and government-imposed restrictions.

"There is obviously still a lot of frustration that this aid effort hasn't picked up pace" 10 days after the cyclone hit, said Richard Horsey, spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian operation in Bangkok, the capital of neighboring Thailand.

Widespread devastation
Cyclone Nargis devastated the delta on May 2-3, leaving about 62,000 people dead or missing according to the government count. The U.N. has suggested the death toll is likely to be more than 100,000.

With their homes washed away and large tracts of land under water, some 2 million survivors, mostly poor rice farmers, are living in abject misery, facing disease and starvation.

The survivors are packed into Buddhist monasteries or camping in the open, drinking water contaminated by fecal matter, with dead bodies and animal carcasses floating around. Food and medicine are scarce.

Yangon was pounded by heavy rain Monday and more downpours were expected throughout the week, further hindering aid deliveries.

For many, the rainwater was the only source of clean drinking water.

The international Red Cross said its delegation in Myanmar found an urgent need for more medical supplies in the Irrawaddy delta.

"During the cyclone, many people held onto trees to avoid being blown away," Red Cross official Bridget Gardner said. "They were almost 'sand blasted' by dirt and saltwater; (many) lost the top layer of their skin and it's important that these injuries are treated before infections can set in."

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States was pressing the junta and its foreign allies for Myanmar to allow in not only food and supplies but disaster relief experts.

"We are calling on them to allow the international community to help the people of Burma," she told reporters. "We are doing everything we can because this is a humanitarian issue, not a political issue, and we want to make very clear that our only desire is to help the people of Burma."

Most foreigners banned
The government has barred nearly all foreigners experienced in managing such catastrophes from going to the delta west of Yangon and is expelling those who have managed to go in.

Jean-Sebastien Matte, an emergency coordinator with Doctors Without Borders, said his foreign staff have repeatedly been forced to return to Yangon from the delta.

Armed police checkpoints were set up outside Yangon on the roads to the delta, and all foreigners were being sent back by policemen who took down their names and passport numbers.

"No foreigners allowed," a policeman said Tuesday after waving a car back.

In a newspaper interview, Germany's development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said China and Russia need to push for U.N. Security Council action to pressure Myanmar to throw open the door to international aid.

The foreign resident who relayed the reports of the military switching its own biscuits for the WFP's aid also said several businessmen had been told to give the government cash donations of no less than $1,800 each to aid cyclone victims.

Companies involved have included jade mining concerns in Hpakant, restaurants and construction companies in Yangon, he said.

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