22,000 dead, and counting Options

[Teesa]

the cyclone happened a few days ago and the damage that its caused is just unbelievable

State media reported on Tuesday that 22,464 people had now been confirmed as dead and an additional 41,054 people missing as a result of the cyclone.

Almost all of the deaths occurred in the Irrawaddy river delta region, where more were killed by the tidal wave than the cyclone itself, Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told reporters in Rangoon.

"The wave was up to 12ft (3.5m) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said. "They did not have anywhere to flee."

Some 95% of the homes in the city of Bogalay in the Irrawaddy delta were destroyed and most of its 190,000 residents are now homeless, he added. The neighbouring areas of Labutta and Pyapon in the southern part of the delta have also been badly affected.

Satellite images released by the US space agency, Nasa, showed virtually the entire coastal plain of the country under water, destroyed roads, downed power lines and flattened houses.

One of the few foreign aid agencies permitted to work inside Burma, World Vision, has described scenes of horror in the affected regions, with rice fields strewn with bodies and desperate survivors without food or shelter.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7385662.stm