UN's top disaster official headed to Myanmar

MYANMAR: The UN's top disaster official headed Sunday to Myanmar, where the government is under mounting pressure to accept a full-scale relief operation for desperate cyclone survivors in need of immediate aid.

The secretive military rulers have let more foreign experts into the country in recent days to help the estimated two million survivors who do not have enough food, water or shelter more than two weeks after the storm struck.

But with emergency relief coordinator John Holmes due to arrive late Sunday, an internal UN report said needs were still critical - and witnesses coming from the disaster zone described scene of misery and despair.

Despite thousands of tonnes of aid being flown in, aid groups want fuller access to help supervise relief in the aftermath of the May 2-3 storm, which the government says left nearly 134,000 people dead or missing.

Yangon, Sunday, AFP