Children wait while rice is handed out near Kundangon May 11, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The first international aid official permitted into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta described towns rendered unrecognizable, and thousands of survivors without shelter while the Joint Typhoon Warning center said Wednesday another cyclone was forming in the region.

    Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the United Nations humanitarian relief program, couldn't say where the landfall would be or when it would become a full-fledged cyclone. But she said the chances of another cyclone were good.

    Soldiers have barred foreign aid workers from reaching survivors in the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis, but gave access to an International Red Cross representative who returned to Yangon on Tuesday.

Children congregate outside a school that is being used as a camp for Internally Displaced People in Kaw Hwu near Kundangon May 11, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "People who have come here having lost their homes in rural areas have volunteered to work as first aiders. They are humanitarian heroes," said Bridget Gardner, the agency's country head.

    UN officials warned that the threat was escalating for the 2 million people facing disease and hunger in low-lying areas battered by the storm unless relief efforts increased dramatically.

    Eleven days after the tempest, reaching the worst-affected areas was getting more and more difficult.

    Gardner and her assessment team were able to visit five locations in the Irrawaddy delta. In one of them, 10,000 people are living without shelter as rain continued to tumble from the sky.

    "The town of Labutta is unrecognizable. I have been here before and now with the extent of the damage and the crowds of displaced people, it's a different place," Gardner was quoted as saying in a statement by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

    (Agencies)

Cyclone death toll rises to 34,273 in Myanmar

People line up to receive water in a cyclone-hit village located near the capital Yangon May 11, 2008.  (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    YANGON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from Cyclone Nargis has risen to 34,273 in Myanmar, the state radio reported Tuesday evening.

    And 27,836 people still remained missing, and the number of injured stood at 1,403, said the report. Full story

More international relief supplies flow in Myanmar

A worker prepares to load relief supplies from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for the cyclone-devastated regions of Myanmar at Ostend Airport May 11, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    YANGON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- More aircrafts laden with relief materials from the international community touched down at the Yangon International Airport Sunday for the delivery to the cyclone-devastated regions of Myanmar, state radio and television reported Sunday evening.

    These aid supplies included that from the King of Thailand, International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), Greek, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Petronas of Malaysia and Pakistan. Full story

More China's relief supplies arrive Myanmar biggest city 

    YANGON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- A special aircraft, laden with more relief supplies mainly medicines, arrived at the Yangon International Airport Saturday afternoon from China as the country's third batch of aid materials airlifted to Myanmar for cyclone-hit homeless survivors.

    The Boeing 747-400 aircraft, Jade Cargo, brought along 58 tons more of relief materials which also include tents and water purifiers. Full story

UN launches $187 mln appeal for cyclone-hit Myanmar 

    UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations launched a flash appeal for 187 million U.S. dollars on Friday to aid more than 1.5 million victims of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar last week.

    The flash appeal would enable 10 UN organizations and nine nongovernmental organizations to "support the government of Myanmar in addressing the needs of more than 1,500,000 people affected by the cyclone," said a UN statement. Full story