Killer cyclone Nargis leaves at least 4000 dead in Burma, relief efforts underway

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According to a state-controlled media, at least 4000 were dead and Hai Gyi Island was the worst affected, accounting for more than half of them.

The government claims the cyclone has destroyed at least 20,000 homes and left more than 100,000 people homeless and over 3000 missing. However, given the Burmese junta's nature of secrecy and control over the media, the international community suspects the actual figure could be much higher.

Winds of up to 120 miles per hour tore through the city of Rangoon, the Irrawaddy Delta and southern Arakan State on the evening of May 2 and continued its ravage, uprooting trees, pummeling buildings and ripping up power lines, till late evening on Saturday.

Though in great need of aid and assistance, the Burmese government has so far refused to allow any international aid agency to enter the state.

International humanitarian organizations, which need to seek permission from the regime to react to the crisis, fear that they may not be able to provide emergency relief and assistance, to people who are injured or who are left homeless, in time.

According to the Information Ministry official, Rangoon's international airport was closed until further notice with flights diverted to the city of Mandalay.

"We also deployed military units for rescue and rehabilitation projects. Now the military and police have started to clean the city," the official said.

"We are trying to get back to the normal situation as soon as possible," he said.

However, many civilians have complained the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help storm victims and were largely invisible.

"Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians-" said one man, who refused to be identified for fear of retribution. "They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity."

The deadly storm has also left in its wake severe shortage of food and oil. While the price of food items were reported to have hiked by at least 100 percent, in Rangoon, petrol had increased fourfold to more than $10 a gallon. The cost of construction supplies is also reported to have risen.

However, the government said the referendum on a new constitution will go ahead as planned on May 10.

"The referendum is only a few days away and the people are eagerly looking forward to voting," the government said in a statement carried by state media.

The junta leaders claim the referendum, which will be the country's first national vote in 18 years, will pave the way for multi-party elections in 2010, but critics, including Nobel Prize winning opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, say the charter is aimed primarily at further strengthening the military rule by giving it excessive power.