NEW YORK — The United Nations yesterday urgently requested $187 million to stabilize and treat the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, despite the Burmese government’s refusal to allow in most foreign relief workers.
Two World Food Program (WFP) cargo planes landed yesterday morning — six days after the cyclone inundated Burma’s heavily populated coastal region — but authorities apparently impounded the planes and distributed the emergency aid themselves. Nonetheless, WFP said it would send in two more planes today.
Burmese authorities have welcomed humanitarian supplies but insist that the government distribute them — a condition that aid agencies and many donors will accept only under duress.
Meanwhile, hundreds of tons of food, plastic sheeting, tents, medical supplies and generators were being stockpiled on Burma’s borders, while medical and logistical experts wait for permission to enter the country also known as Myanmar. The government has said it will facilitate visas and waive customs procedures, but impatient diplomats called on officials to follow through.
“The sooner the humanitarians are let in … the more lives we will save,” U.N. relief coordinator John Holmes said yesterday in chairing a hastily scheduled pledging conference. “The danger of outbreaks of epidemics rises by the hour.”
The plea was echoed by nearly a dozen diplomats, many of whom pledged money, technical assistance and contributions worth roughly $77 million for the Burmese people.
The United States has received permission to land a C-130 cargo plane on Monday and, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said yesterday, Washington has offered to deliver supplies with 23 helicopters that are already positioned in the Gulf of Thailand.
But he also urged the military junta to allow professionals to move freely during the disaster.
“An effective humanitarian response requires more than the provision of supplies,” Mr. Khalilzad said. “It requires skilled disaster personnel whose knowledge, experience and expertise in assessing, coordinating and delivering life-saving assistance is urgently needed if we are to mount a response appropriate to the scale of this disaster.”
The Burmese representative at the United Nations, Kyaw Tint Swe, spoke publicly for the first time yesterday, promising to accept assistance from any country — particularly the United States.
“We are trying to speed up our relief efforts,” said Mr. Swe, describing the deployment of three military divisions, as well as navy ships and helicopters.
“I would like to thank you deeply for the generosity and solidarity you expressed,” he said after the pledging conference. “It is most heartening indeed.”
Of the demands for visas, Mr. Swe said only, “We hear you.”
A dozen U.N. agencies and development organizations were already on the ground when the cyclone hit. They have been scrambling to deliver stockpiled food and help with the bilateral assistance that has already arrived from Burma’s Asian neighbors.
According to yesterday’s emergency appeal, Burma’s largest needs are the most basic: The international agencies say they will need $56 million for food and $20 million for emergency shelter — often just tents, tarps and basic kitchen supplies.
The World Health Organization and affiliated organizations are asking for $16 million to prop up the health sector, distribute mosquito nets and anti-malarials, and ward off epidemics carried by dirty water and bad food.
Nearly $50 million will be needed for logistics — the transport, management, storage and the rehabilitation of roads, among other things. Another $1.3 million could be used for emergency telecommunications.
The Food and Agriculture Organization is asking for $10 million to start reclaiming the fertile Irrawady Delta, which has been contaminated with saltwater and will likely be fallow for many years.
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