Yangon - Myanmar is using helicopters, cars and trucks and small boats to transport relief supplies donated by foreign countries to the cyclone-ravaged Irrwaddy delta region, state-run newspapers in Yangon reported Saturday. Meanwhile there was no official word if authorities would allow a French warship with 1,500 tons of relief supplies, including medicine and food, waiting in international waters off the coast, to deliver the supplies.
The French ship has helicopters and small boats that could deliver the supplies to the hard-to-reach parts of the hardest hit delta region.
The French government has been pushing the United Nations to forcefully deliver aid to storm victims, and Myanmar denounced France at the UN General Assembly Friday for sending the warship.
The Myanmar government has let other supplies through, including a flight with 18 tons of water-purifying tablets and blankets donated by UNICEF and two four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicles and one rubber boat by the Red Cross.
Other flights have delivered plastic sheets, construction materials, shelter kits and 4WD cars among other supplies donated by a long list of organizations and countries, state-run media reported.
The newspapers gave no details of how much is making it into the delta region, and little is known from independent sources. Representatives of some of the 16 aid organizations working together for cyclone relief said Saturday they have learned nothing new since Friday.
In other measures, Brunei Darussalam, which with Myanmar is a member of the 10-nation Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), donated 100,000 dollars to the relief effort, dailies reported Saturday.
Meanwhile, the government late Friday increased the official death toll from Cyclone Nargis to 78,000 with an additional 56,000 missing, state-run television reported.
