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Wave Of Death Swamped The DeltaWHEN cyclone Nargis slammed into Burmas low-lying Irrawaddy delta it triggered a massive wave that gave people nowhere to run, killing tens of thousands of people. "More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself," Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe said. "The wave was up to 12 feet (3.5 metres) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said. "They did not have anywhere to flee." Last night, the official death toll stood at 22,500, with 41,000 missing. It is almost certain to climb substantially today. Earlier, Foreign Minister Nyan Win said on state television that 10,000 people had died just in Bogalay, a town 90 kilometres south-west of Rangoon. The cyclone destroyed 95% of the homes in the city of 190,000 people. Foreign aid teams have described horrible scenes, with rice fields littered with corpses and desperate survivors without food or shelter, four days after the storm. It is the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh. Reflecting the scale of the disaster, the ruling junta said it would postpone to May 24 a constitutional referendum in the worst-hit areas. The May 10 vote, part of the armys much-criticised "road map to democracy", would proceed as planned in the rest of the nation. However, the opposition National League for Democracy said it was unacceptable that the poll would proceed and the regime had yet to give meaningful help to victims four days after the storm hit. The military junta was "doing its best" to help those affected, the countrys Information Minister, Kyaw Hsan, said. "The task is very wide and extensive and the Government needs the co-operation of the people and well-wishers from at home and abroad," he said. Several hundred thousand people are homeless after the cyclone and storm surge, United Nations officials say. Some foreign aid teams were told they would have to negotiate with the regime to be granted access. REUTERS, AFP Tag CloudExternal InformationAdditional InformationAnalysis: Putin puts on show of strength to impress voters...Machinegun Huckabees are a feisty family... Spy pointed the finger... Merkel gives Turkey time to rethink its Cyprus stance... Where Am I?News Main Page - Business - Wave Of Death Swamped The Delta |
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