Here is the full article from YANGON (Reuters) - At least 15,000 people were killed in the Myanmar cyclone and the toll was likely to rise as officials made contact with the worst-hit areas, the military government's foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Nyan Win said on state television that 10,000 people had died in just one town, Bogalay, as he gave the first detailed account of what is emerging as the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people were killed in Bangladesh.
"In Irrawaddy Division the death toll amounts to more than 10,000," he said in a state television broadcast, in which he also said the military government welcomed outside assistance, an unprecedented green light to governments and aid agencies who want to help with the recovery.
"The missing is about 3,000. In Bogalay, the death toll is about 10,000," the minister said in the broadcast monitored outside of the Southeast Asian country.
The United Nations and the former Burma's neighbours are scrambling to deliver food, clean water and shelter to survivors after the junta, the latest face of 46 years of unbroken military rule, gave them permission.
The total left homeless by the 190 km (120 miles) per hour winds and 12 foot (3.5 meter) storm surge is in the several hundred thousands, United Nations aid officials say, and could run into the millions.
In Yangon, a city of 5 million, people were queuing up for bottled water and there was still no electricity four days after the vicious Cyclone Nargis struck the delta, rice bowl of the country of 53 million people.
"Generators are selling very well under the generals," said one man waiting outside a shop, reflecting some of the resentment on the streets to what many described as a slow warning and response to the cyclone's 190 km (120 miles) per hour winds.
Very few soldiers were seen clearing debris and trees, except at major intersections, residents in the former capital said. Monks and residents, using what tools they had, cut trees.
"The regime has lost a golden opportunity to send the soldiers as soon as the storm stopped to win the heart and soul of people," said a retired civil servant.
from: http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000005887
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