May 4, Sunday
A state of emergency is declared in five areas : the city of Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and the states of Karen and Mon. All flights to Yangon, the former capital, are cancelled.
Water and power supplies to most affected areas remain cut off. Cell phone and landline networks are down.
May 5, Monday
Myanmar government summon diplomats as it launches an appeal for international aid. Thailand has already received aid request.
15,000 believed to be dead, 10,000 in the township of Bogalay alone.
US First lady Laura Bush cites the lack of warning as the latest example of "the junta's failure to meet its people's basic needs." (CNN, May 5), begging comparison to the Bush administration's much-criticised response to Hurricane Katrina. Many unable to heed evacuation orders issued were neglected and survivors were stranded in squalid conditions without basic necessities for days. New Orleans' top emergency management official called the relief effort a "national disgrace".
May 7, Wednesday
State media: 22,464 confirmed killed in in disaster, 41,ooo homeless.
Governments pledge aid:
The United States ups offer from US$ 250,000 to $3 million. Britain promises £5 million ($9.9 million)
The European Union pledges 2 million euros ($3.1 million). China gives $1m.
France is limiting its financial aid to 200,000 euros ($310,000)
"It's not a lot, but we don't really trust the way the Burmese ministry would use the money," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, also co-founder of relief group Medicins sans Frontieres in 1971
(source : BBC)
The BBC also reports that Unicef has warned "survivors faced poor sanitation and a lack of access to clean water, as well as the threat of diseases such as malaria, cholera and dysentery.
"In some areas we know that the areas are still completely under water, under salt water... some people have absolutely no drinking water and food."
May 8
Aid agencies are being frustrated by Myanmese bureaucracy.
Foreign aid workers are unable to enter the country pending visa approvals. Three UN flights from Bangkok, Dhaka and Dubai with 40 tonnes of high energy biscuits awaiting clearance by Burmese authorities finally land in Yangon.
China increases aid to US$ 5.3 million.
Myanmar's neighbours Thailand and India have managed to send aid planes.
Survivors in the Irawaddy region are stranded without shelter, clean water and food. Foods to the region are reported to be empty with no aid heading their way.
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