Aid trickles in as Myanmar faces new cyclone worries Source: Reuters
(Adds details on potential new cyclone)
* Survivors increasingly desperate
* Tropical depression raises new cyclone fears
* Myanmar invites 160 personnel from neighbouring countries
* Thai Prime Minister meets Myanmar's Thein Sein
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, May 14 (Reuters) - The 1.5 million people left destitute by Myanmar's devastating cyclone were increasingly desperate on Wednesday, as foreign aid remained at a trickle and overstretched aid workers struggled to reach hard-hit areas.
Reports a tropical depression was swirling southwest of Yangon and a U.S. advisory that it could develop into a cyclone in the next 24 hours sparked concerns of a new tragedy following the early May storm that left up to 100,000 people dead or missing in the Irrawaddy delta.
"It's terrible. This is always another worry when you have a major disaster, that you have further hazards affecting people," Amanda Pitt, spokeswoman for the UN's humanitarian affairs office, told a news conference in Bangkok.
However, the U.S. advisory said conditions did not yet merit a full cyclone warning, while Tropical Storm Risk (http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/), which offers information on tropical storms for the insurance industry, among others, did not show tropical cyclone activity as of 0843 GMT.
Meanwhile, in a gesture to critics who say outside aid is critical, Myanmar's reclusive military rulers invited 160 personnel from neighbouring Bangladesh, China, India and Thailand to assist in delayed and sometimes chaotic relief efforts.
But that is a fraction of the thousands of foreign aid workers needed for a "tsunami-style" international aid operation.
"It's just awful. People are in just desperate need, begging as vehicles go past," Gordon Bacon, an emergency coordinator for the International Rescue Committee, told Reuters from Yangon.
Thailand's prime minister flew to Myanmar's main city of Yangon on Wednesday to try to persuade Prime Minister Thein Sein to let more foreign experts into the pulverised areas.
Samak Sundaravej is hoping for more luck than United Nations and Western officials, whose efforts have had little success.
reuters[ Bericht 2% gewijzigd door #ANONIEM op 14-05-2008 12:29:57 ]