WASHINGTON — The United States has “massive concern” about whether its aid for Myanmar’s cyclone victims will get to those suffering from disease and lack of food and water, the director of the U.S. office of foreign disaster assistance said Monday.
The United States delivered its first relief supplies to Myanmar on Monday, as the U.N. urged the reclusive nation to open its doors to foreign experts who can help up to 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation.
Myanmar reported that the official death toll from Cyclone Nargis had risen to about 32,000. Nearly 30,000 others remain missing, and the U.N. and others have said the death toll could reach 100,000 or higher.
Britain’s opposition leader called for air-dropping aid if Myanmar’s military government remains adamant, while U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized the junta’s “unacceptably slow response” to helping cyclone victims.
“There is absolutely no more time to lose,” Ban said, adding that Myanmar’s leaders had not returned his repeated letters and calls seeking greater cooperation with international relief efforts.
Ky Luu, the U.S. foreign-disaster assistance chief, said the United States plans to rely on aid groups to track the supplies that the U.S. flew in into Myanmar on Monday.
Luu acknowledged that it is difficult to determine what will happen to the aid in the tightly controlled, military-led country, saying “There’s massive concern” about whether it will reach the victims.
“We have to stay optimistic, support the in-country team and hope that the commodities will be able to reach the beneficiaries,” he said.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said the plane that landed Monday carried water, mosquito nets and blankets and that Myanmar has given permission for two more C-130 flights.
The local government is taking possession of the goods and working to distribute them, Whitman said. He said the U.S. is still talking to the Myanmar junta about the possibility of U.S. distribution of aid in the country.
The White House said the United States was prepared to provide an additional $13 million in food and logistical assistance to the United Nations’ world food program for distribution to cyclone victims, bringing overall U.S. aid to $16.25 million.
Three U.S. Navy ships in the Bay of Bengal were sailing closer to Myanmar on Monday, ready to aid cyclone victims if they are given permission, Vice Adm. Doug Crowder told reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia.
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