Relief supplies are far below the needs of up to 2.5million cyclone victims, says DEC

Aid agencies horrified as junta ‘moves on’ to rebuild

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Dismayed aid agencies warned yesterday many survivors of Cyclone Nargis are still without food, water and shelter despite the Burmese military government declaring the emergency relief effort over.

At least £6million worth of British aid has already reached 350,000 Burmese people in desperate need, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said.

However, the United Nations said the relief supplies sent into Burma by the international community remain far below the needs of up to 2.5million victims.

The junta, which insists on taking control of distribution, has allowed the UN and some other agencies to hand out supplies directly but has prevented foreign aid workers from entering cyclone-hit areas.

In a further blow, Burma’s prime minister was quoted as saying the emergency relief phase was finished – and rebuilding was beginning.

“We have already finished our first phase of emergency relief. We are going on to the second phase, the rebuilding stage,” Premier Thein Sein was reported to have said.

Horrified aid agencies insisted that getting food, water, shelter and medical care to victims was still the main priority.

Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown criticised the junta for blocking foreign assistance. He said: “We are way behind the curve compared to any other international disaster in recent memory.”

The UN has warned disease, hunger and thirst could cause a second catastrophe on a greater scale than the storm itself.

Up to 90% of deaths in the villages worst-hit by Burma’s cyclone could have been women, children and the elderly, aid charities said. The evidence suggests most of the survivors are men.