The international community is offering aid to military-ruled Burma as the death toll from Saturday's cyclone has risen to nearly 22-thousand five-hundred.
The International Red Cross says the revised death toll makes Cyclone Nargis the deadliest storm since 1991. The organization has issued an initial appeal for nearly six million dollars to provide emergency shelter, water, mosquito nets and other items.
A United Nations representative, Rashid Khalikov, director of the office for coordination of humanitarian affairs says U.N. staffers who were already in Burma are distributing supplies they had stored within the country. He said some supplies are being moved into Burma from regional stockpiles, but no new workers have been granted visas to go in and help.
The spokesman said a number of aid workers from the U.N. and other organizations are waiting in Bangkok, Thailand, for permission to enter Burma.
The U.N. World Food Program said in a statement it has begun distributing 800 tons of supplies from its Burmese warehouses, but so far the aid is mainly going to people in and around Rangoon because coastal regions are still inaccessible.
The International Red Cross says the revised death toll makes Cyclone Nargis the deadliest storm since 1991. The organization has issued an initial appeal for nearly six million dollars to provide emergency shelter, water, mosquito nets and other items.
A United Nations representative, Rashid Khalikov, director of the office for coordination of humanitarian affairs says U.N. staffers who were already in Burma are distributing supplies they had stored within the country. He said some supplies are being moved into Burma from regional stockpiles, but no new workers have been granted visas to go in and help.
The spokesman said a number of aid workers from the U.N. and other organizations are waiting in Bangkok, Thailand, for permission to enter Burma.
The U.N. World Food Program said in a statement it has begun distributing 800 tons of supplies from its Burmese warehouses, but so far the aid is mainly going to people in and around Rangoon because coastal regions are still inaccessible.