The Bush administration announced that it had boosted its initial offer of $250,000 for relief efforts by $3 million. The money would come from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
"Let the United States come to help you, help the people," Bush said in a message directed at the leaders of Myanmar.
"At the same time, of course," he added, "we want them to live in a free society."
In addition to worrying about international pressures, Myanmar's leadership faces dissatisfaction at home, analysts said.
Some residents waited in lines for nine hours to buy gasoline, and at one gas station in the suburb of Sanchaung, fights broke out among weary residents after someone tried to cut in line, the Associated Press reported. A short distance away, the Dagon Ice Factory drinking water company turned people away with signs that said, "No More."
"Where are the police? Where's the army?" asked Soe Aung, spokesman for the National Council of the Union of Burma, which is based in Thailand. "They were always ready when there were demonstrations to beat up people and shoot at them, but now where are they?"
The Associated Press reported that Buddhist monks and Roman Catholic nuns in hard-hit Yangon used axes and long knives to clear ancient fallen trees that once lined the city's streets. Electricity remained cut off for nearly all of the city's 6.5 million residents.
Win Min, an exile living in Thailand, said he was extremely anxious about his friends and family in Bogalay, where state media have reported that about 10,000 people have died. Win, like thousands of others, had been trying unsuccessfully to reach loved ones by telephone.
"I'm very worried the next time I go home I may not see some of them," said Win, who teaches at Chiang Mai University in Thailand. Bogalay, shaped like a rectangle, is largely surrounded by water, he said, making it highly vulnerable. Almost every house is constructed of old wood and woven mats that would not withstand much punishment. And the main road to Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, would quickly bog down, even if it were not blocked by debris, he added, making it difficult to transport aid and medical care.
"The real question is how they're ever going to reach the affected areas," Win said. "I hope the government will allow foreign ships and helicopters in, but so far I haven't seen it."
