US aid takes off

The Burmese military junta reversed itself early on Saturday and said the United States can deliver one planeload of emergency aid, and maybe more - as the United Nations estimated the death toll could reach more than 100,000, partly because the regime has denied most aid and all relief workers for a week. Donors around the world have donated enough aid to last for three months - if Burma allows it to be distributed.

It was exactly one week ago today (Saturday, Thailand time) that Cyclone Nargis slammed into the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon, the country's biggest city, leaving tens of thousands dead and thousands of others without adequate food or water supplies.

Now, at last, the junta given permision to a US military aircraft to deliver emergency aid, the White House said.

One C-130 cargo plane has been granted access to fly from Thailand to deliver supplies on Monday, said Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the National Security Council.

"We hope this is the beginning of major US assistance to the Burmese people," Johndroe told reporters at President George W Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The ruling junta has not approved visas for a group of US aid workers seeking to enter the country to assess the situation and determine what aid is needed and the approval is only for one flight, Johndroe said.

"But one flight is much better than no flights. And we're going to keep on working to provide as much assistance as possible in the coming days, weeks and months. Because they're going to need our help for a long time," he said.

Asked what had prompted the Burmese government to overcome its reluctance to foreign aid, Johndroe said there had been ongoing discussions with the country's rulers and though he could point to no specific thing, he said "clearly the junta has determined that the magnitude of this disaster requires additional assistance, and so we're pleased to be able to offer that."

In New York, United Nations experts early on Saturday Thailand time estimated the death toll could reach more than 100,000. That is a dramatic increase in the estimate of the devastation in the 55 townships in Burma's low-lying delta region delivered by Cyclone Nargis.

The UN dropped its reliance on the military government's casualty figures for the first time this week, saying that Nargis could be the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 138,000 were killed in Bangladesh.

"Based on assessment of 18 agencies and their assessment in 55 townships, we estimate currently that the number of severely affected population lies between 1.2 and 1.9 million," said John Holmes, the UN undersecretary general for emergency relief efforts.

An estimated 13 million people of Burma's population of 53 million live in areas hit by the cyclone.

"The number of deaths has been climbing daily and could be anywhere between 63,000 and 100,000 or possibly even higher than that," Holmes told government envoys assembled to pledge help to Burma.

By contrast, Burmese UN Ambassador Kyaw Tint Swe, who attended the pledging conference, said there were 22,997 dead as of Thursday, 1,403 injured and 42,119 missing people. He gave the number of affected people at "hundreds of thousands," a much lower figure than what Holmes cited.

"We are most thankful to the international community, our friends near and far for the solidarity and generosity," Kyaw said. "We urgently need medical supplies, food, clothing, electric generators and material for emergency shelter as well as financial assistance. Therefore today's flash appeal is both timely and welcome."

Kyaw said Burma had received so far two shiploads and 11 aircraft loaded with relief supplies.

"I hope today's appeal will be met with concrete expression of solidarity and generosity by the international community," he said.

Holmes said he received pledges of 77 million dollars out of the total of 187 million dollars that asked for to fund international relief efforts. Yet the military government has yet to authorise the unhindered delivery of relief goods to the victims threatened by famine, diseases and floodings.

He said the 77-million-dollar pledge did not include money or in-kinds directly given to the government from organisations or governments. The top donors so far have been Japan, Britain and the United States.

The amount sought should cover three months of most essential needs, including plastic sheeting, water purification, materials, water receptacles, cooking sets, mosquito nets, emergency health kits and food, the UN said in a comprehensive study of the emergency relief needs that was put together by UN agencies and organisations involved in the relief efforts.

Diplomatic efforts to pressure the military junta to allow in more aid are continuing. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday talked with the Chinese and Indian foreign ministers, urging them to "use whatever leverage they have with that top decision-making layer in the Burmese regime to get them to reverse the course that they have been on," and allow in further international assistance, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday.

The US would work with non-governmental organisations on the ground to determine what supplies were most urgently needed in determining what would be carried on the flight, he said.