Death toll from Myanmar cyclone nearly doubles

A small tour to the disaster zone arranged for Saturday will give diplomats their first up-close look at the effects of the cyclone and at the government relief effort.

John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, was to go to Myanmar on Sunday in an attempt to persuade the junta to admit more U.N. relief workers and to greatly increase aid efforts, said Amanda Pitt, a U.N. spokeswoman in Bangkok, Thailand.

"If you look at the situation with China, they have accepted relief and assistance teams from Russia, Taiwan and Japan," Pitt said, referring to the response to the earthquake there. "They know they can't do it on their own."

The junta maintains it has the situation under control. But after two weeks, the U.N. remains largely in the dark about the situation on the ground.

"We simply don't have the information, and I can't say when we will have it," said Steve Marshall, a U.N. official who just left Myanmar.

The Red Cross has put the death toll as high as 128,000 and the most recent official figures on dead and missing have the U.N. saying the number could easily reach 130,000.

The highest death estimate is carried by the British government's Department for International Development, which says that "unofficial estimates suggest the number of dead or missing is in the region of 217,000." The department said the estimate was reported to them by sources on the ground with knowledge of the situation. They gave no other details and said the estimates could not immediately be verified.

The U.N. estimates some 1.5 million to 2.5 million survivors are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical care.

"If the storm was so massive that it's basically swept away, killed 130,000 people, we can only imagine what it's done to settlements on the ground," said Stephanie Bunker, a New York-based spokeswoman for Holmes.

Myanmar is entering the monsoon season and disaster experts warn the wet weather could complicate relief efforts. Heavy rain pelted the country Friday.