Myanmar accepts more US help for cyclone survivors

Logistical bottlenecks, poor infrastructure and restrictions imposed by Myanmar's isolationist junta were delaying the desperately needed aid for some 2 million severely affected survivors of the May 3 cyclone.

The government says about 62,000 people are dead or missing, but the U.N. has suggested the death toll is likely to be more than 100,000.

While the survivors -mostly poor peasants who grew rice for their livelihood -face disease and starvation, the authoritarian junta continued to bar nearly all foreigners experienced in managing such catastrophes.

It has largely only allowed supplies from the outside. Two U.S. planes and a U.N. convoy have already delivered aid. In an apparent concession, the junta seemed set to allow U.S. supply planes to continue to land Wednesday.

But armed police checkpoints were set up outside Yangon, the main city, on the roads to the hard-hit Irrawaddy 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.

Despite the junta's restrictions, countless images of the misery in Irrawaddy have already stirred the world.

The survivors, who have become refugees in their own land, are packed into Buddhist monasteries or camped in the open, drinking dirty water contaminated by dead bodies and animal carcasses. Food and medicines are scarce.

People complain that the junta's soldiers are handing out rotten food while keeping the best for themselves. Thousands of children are orphaned and suffering from fever, diarrhea and respiratory infections.