Bangkok/Yangon - The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis has increased to 43,318, Myanmar state-run media reported, but relief organizations said Friday the number of dead could be much higher. Myanmar state television reported that in addition to the confirmed death toll of 43,318 people, another 1,403 were injured and 27,838 remained missing.
Representatives of some of the 16 aid organizations working together for cyclone relief said in Bangkok a true figure of dead and missing is difficult to determine, but put it somewhere between the Myanmar military government's combined 70,000 and the 130,000 the Red Cross has estimated.
The relief effort continued to be frustrated by Myanmar government regulations and lack of access, aid organization representatives said at a joint press conference Friday in Bangkok, but "aid is getting though," said Steve Marshal with UNCT Myanmar and ILO liaison officer. Marshal recently returned from Myanmar.
Although some foreign aid is getting through, there are major problems related to warehousing and transportation, he said, including the roads that are unable be used by vehicles weighing more than six tons, which slows the moving of relief goods and increases the need for warehousing that is also in short supply.
The effected area - some 82,000 square kilometers, about the size of Austria - is a challenge to cover.
Marshal said the government was using six helicopters, each doing four return flights a day, each with 1-ton capacity.
"That is the only helicopter activity that we are aware of," he said.
He said there is some relief going on using small boats.
"Our staff are down there and they are working. Things are happening, (but) not enough. We need more people, we need more cooperation," he said.
Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), emphasized that point.
"Up to two-and-a-half million are in need of aid," she said. "Clearly, needs are not being met."
Pitt said relief efforts need to be "massively scaled up" to prevent further loss of life.
