UN Says Myanmar Should Open Corridor for Cyclone Aid.

Myanmar Should Open Corridor for Cyclone Aid, UN Says (Update2)
By Michael Heath

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar should open an air and sea corridor to allow aid in large quantities to reach the country quickly and prevent disease from causing a second catastrophe after Cyclone Nargis hit 11 days ago, the United Nations said.
The UN used an ``air or sea'' bridge after the 2004 tsunami devastated Indian Ocean countries, Elizabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday. The UN's disaster-response agency warned that the coming monsoon rains will worsen the crisis, especially for people who lack shelter. A new storm was crossing southern Myanmar, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever may surge as soon as next week unless aid is rushed to survivors, the World Health Organization said.
The military junta must let international aid workers enter because ``hundreds of thousands of lives are in the balance,'' European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel said yesterday. The junta barred outsiders from distributing aid, and supplies have so far reached 270,000 people, only about a third of those at risk, the UN says.
The death toll has reached 31,000, and another 29,000 people are missing, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told reporters today in Bangkok after he returned from Myanmar, where he met with the military leaders. He said they told him Myanmar can handle the response to the emergency without help from foreign specialists, though some Thai doctors will be allowed in.
`Manmade Catastrophe'
``They said they welcome help from all nations,'' Samak said. ``But they don't want any experts or any team. They have a private sector there to help their people. They assure us there will be no outbreak or famine there.''
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Parliament in London today that ruling junta was creating a ``manmade catastrophe'' in Myanmar.
``I've asked Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, to hold an emergency summit'' involving Western and Asian nations, Brown said. He said the summit should be similar to the one the UN organized to get aid to the tsunami victims.
The UN estimates as many as 100,000 people died in Myanmar in the May 3 cyclone, the worst natural disaster in Southeast Asia since the 2004 tsunami killed more than 220,000 people. More than 1.5 million people need aid, the UN said.
Monsoon Season
The new storm, which was passing near the former capital, Yangon, may develop into a cyclone once it reaches the Bay of Bengal, the typhoon center said in a bulletin issued at 3 a.m. today Yangon time. The system was packing winds of 46 kilometers (29 miles) per hour and heading west-northwest across Myanmar at 11 kilometers an hour, it said.
The storm was already producing ``substantial amounts of rainfall,'' the UN's World Meteorological Organization said today in an e-mailed statement. ``With the monsoon season approaching, this type of weather will continue and periods of intensive rainfall will become more frequent,'' the agency said.
Tens of thousands of people throughout the southern Irrawaddy delta, the worst-hit region, are crammed into monasteries and informal camps and many are living by the roadside, Michel said. ``Disease is one of the biggest concerns as so many streams are contaminated by bodies, both human and animals.'' He arrived in Myanmar today, Agence France-Presse reported.
Malaria Reported
Some cases of malaria have been reported since the cyclone struck, though no disease outbreaks have been confirmed, said Maureen Birmingham, the WHO's acting representative in Thailand. Still, mosquito-borne diseases usually start spreading more rapidly in the ``third week or so'' after a flood, Birmingham said by phone from Bangkok today.
``It's already an endemic area and the high season is coming up, so we would not be surprised to see that surge,'' she said. ``We might have another week, but maybe we won't.''
There is still ``a considerable amount of surface area under water'' in Myanmar, she said.
Survivors, particularly children and the elderly, are suffering severe trauma, according to the Irrawaddy, a magazine published by Myanmar dissidents in neighboring Thailand.
They are surrounded by bodies and young children are particularly afraid of the water, the magazine reported, citing an unidentified resident of Yangon, who traveled to the delta town of Bogalay to help with relief work.
Children are most vulnerable to infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, dengue fever and malaria. The WHO said diarrhea and dysentery have been reported, while there have been no confirmed cholera cases.
U.S. Aid
Before Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck, about one in three children in the country formerly known as Burma were malnourished, the UN said.
President George W. Bush told China's President Hu Jintao during a telephone conversation yesterday that the U.S. wants to send more aid to Myanmar, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in Washington. ``Hu offered to assist our efforts,'' she said. China is a key ally of Myanmar.
The first U.S. plane carrying relief supplies touched down two days ago in Yangon.
The U.S. has repeatedly criticized Myanmar's military, which has ruled the nation since 1962, over its corrupt and oppressive rule. Bush said two days ago the world ``ought to be angry'' at the way the junta has delayed the relief effort.
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet in Singapore May 19 to discuss how to assist Myanmar, the group said in a statement today. Myanmar is a member of Asean.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: May 14, 2008 09:42 EDT

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