Journey from horror to misery in Myanmar: Cyclone survivors

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Meteorologists say the storm, which gathered strength in the Bay of Bengal and whipped up 120-mph winds, took an unusual track heading eastward into the densely populated delta region where a quarter of the nation's population live.

Jim Andrews, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, said that satellite photos taken after the storm showed flooding of similar magnitude to that of Hurricane Katrina. He said water covered thousands of square miles in the Irrawaddy Delta, although it was unclear how deep the water was.

"It's a similar kind of land to New Orleans ... an intricate network of tidal creeks and openings that allow easy access for a powerful storm surge to penetrate right into populated land," said Andrews. "The impact was maybe the same order of magnitude as Hurricane Katrina...."

The survivors in Labutta indicated that roughly two-thirds of the people in their villages had perished.

"About 1,000 people live in my village, only about 300 people survived. All the houses are gone," said a resident of Kwa Kwa Lay. A village headman said only about 100 of 500 people had survived in his submerged town.

Food, clean water and medical supplies were in short supply in Labutta where some survivors resorted to drinking coconut milk.

Those who made it arrived in boats filled to overflowing with survivors from the 51 surrounding towns and villages, most now under water. But each day there were fewer boats, partly because fuel supplies were disappearing.

They plied through stinking waters, past bodies tangled up in mangrove trees and flattened thatch-roofed houses.

Labutta, located in a township with a population of 209,000 before the cyclone hit, was battered by the storm its communications tower was knocked over, the spires on Buddhist pagodas were broken, windows were shattered. Debris was piled on the streets and roofs were torn off. But many buildings were still standing and helping hands awaited the new arrivals.

Hundreds of people were taking shelter at the Aung Daw Mu temple, where the monks were seen making places for newcomers to sleep and drying out blankets as children scurried about. A private charity group, the Free Funeral Service Society, had set up a couple of big woks nearby to cook for the people.

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