The generals have allowed several cargo planes carrying supplies from the United Nations and neighboring countries such as India and Thailand to land. But the air shipments of food and medical supplies are tiny compared with the enormous need.
The U.N. stopped relief flights Friday after the regime seized all foreign aid. The agency later announced that it would resume flights today.
In Washington, the White House announced that it had received approval from Myanmar to land a military C-130 cargo plane loaded with relief supplies Monday. However, Myanmar has not approved additional flights and has not agreed to allow U.S. relief assistance teams to enter the country.
The country's biggest port, officially known as Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa, would be a likely link if the regime has a change of heart and allows a large and sustained international aid effort.
The container port, near the mouth of the Yangon River, opened 10 years ago and is equipped with modern facilities that could efficiently unload relief supplies for delivery to the disaster zone by smaller boats, trucks and helicopters.
The port at Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, was heavily damaged in the weekend storm, and sunken vessels will make it difficult for large craft to maneuver safely for some time, officials say.
Local charities know that the affected people don't have time to wait for foreign governments to persuade the generals to allow outside help on the scale that is needed to avert another disaster from hunger and disease. But their resources are limited.
Nearly 1,000 people who lost their homes moved into the Mandalay Beer Station, a state-owned roadside restaurant near here. Their main meal Friday was a watery soup of boiled rice, fish sauce and onion shoots.
The servers ladling soup into tin cups and metal bowls on the beer hall's concrete steps slapped and shouted at children who dared to ask for second helpings.
An official watching the chaotic scene said he was afraid because the people had lost their sense of discipline.
They had to move out, he said, because they were making the restaurant dirty and his superiors would be angry.
When the official left, the survivors ignored his eviction order and moved back into the building.
In Kyat Inn, a village about four miles from the port, merchant San Win was handing out tins of condensed milk and small bags of rice to children, women and the elderly.
They stood, anxious but orderly, waiting as a man called out names written by hand in a school notebook. Someone stepped forward for San Win's gift of food.
San Win was paying for the small relief effort out of her own pocket, she explained, because it would give her merits, which Buddhists believe will help them in their next life.
"They're hungry," she said, reaching for another tin of milk as three boys stared up at her, pleading silently with their eyes. "I have to do something."
--
Times staff writers Bruce Wallace in Bangkok, Thailand, and Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.
