Western powers kept up the pressure on Burma's generals on Thursday to allow a massive aid effort as relief workers struggled to help an estimated 2.5 million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis.
The European Union's top aid official has warned that the military government's restrictions on foreign aid workers and equipment were increasing the risk of starvation and disease.
Nearly two weeks after the deadly storm tore through the heavily populated Irrawaddy delta rice bowl, leaving up to 127,990 people dead, supplies of food, medicine and temporary shelter have been sent out in dribs and drabs to devastated communities.
In Burma's main city, Yangon, foreign aid experts prevented from accessing the delta play pool in the evenings and watch, in frustration, television footage of the miserable conditions.
"People all over the world want to help Burma but the government is blocking medical teams," said one relief worker.
The United Nations has ramped up its estimate of the number of people in urgent need of aid to 2.5 million, roughly the population of the U.S. state of Nevada, and has called for a high-level donors conference to deal with the crisis.
POLITICAL PRESSURE
Louis Michel, the European Union's top aid official, is in Yangon for talks with the junta but his mission comes a day after Thailand's prime minister was told Burma could deal with "the problem" by itself.
"We want to convince the authorities of our good faith. We are there for humanitarian reasons," Michel earlier told reporters.
He dismissed suggestions from some European countries that they should bring in aid without waiting for permission from the authorities.
