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US Aid Plane Lands in Burma

Official death toll at 32K; observers say it could be triple that

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted May 12, 2008 12:03 PM CDT

(Newser) – After days of negotiating, a US aid flight landed today in Rangoon, the BBC reports. It’s the latest sign Burma’s military junta might be relaxing its restrictions on foreign aid—a French charity’s plane also touched down—but relief workers still aren’t allowed in to distribute the goods. The US has offered the help of 11,000 servicemen; that, too, has been declined.

Officially, last week’s cyclone has killed 32,000, with another 30,000 missing. Observers think triple that number could already be dead, and without more powerful relief efforts, 1.5 million could perish. One Save the Children official in Burma estimated about half of the people who needed aid were getting it, and the Red Cross declared the operation “nowhere near the scale required.”

In this photo released by the U.S. Marine Corps, soldiers from Myanmar unload water from a U.S. Air Force C-130 Monday, May 12, 2008, at Yangon airport. (AP Photo/HO, US Marine Corps, Sgt Andres Alcaraz)

In this photo released by the U.S. Marine Corps, soldiers from Myanmar and others unload water from a U.S. Air Force C-130 Monday, May 12, 2008, at Yangon airport. (AP Photo/HO, US Marine Corps, Sgt Andres Alcaraz)

In this photo released by the U.S. Marine Corps, soldiers from Myanmar unload a U.S. Air Force C-130 Monday, May 12, 2008, at Yangon Airport. (AP Photo/HO, US Marine Corps, Sgt Andres Alcaraz)

In this photograph released by Democratic Voice of Burma on Friday, May 9, 2008, bodies of children killed during Cyclone Nargis lay in water in an unknown location in Myanmar. (AP Photo/str)

A U.S. soldier preparing to unload the relief supplies at Yangon international airport Monday May. 12, 2008. (AP Photo)

Members of Myanmar Fire Department and army soldiers help unload relief supplies from the U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane parked at the Yangon international airport Monday May 12, 2008. (AP Photo)

In this photo released by the U.S. Marine Corps a soldier from Myanmar and a U.S. airman work together to unload food packages from a C-130 at Yangon airport Monday, May 12, 2008. (AP Photo/HO, US Marine Corps, Sgt Andres Alcaraz)

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US Aid Plane Lands in Burma

Official death toll at 32K; observers say it could be triple that

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But relief effort remains minimal with a million at risk

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American troops stand ready to help relief

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US Aid Plane Lands in Burma

Official death toll at 32K; observers say it could be triple that

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

aid • relief • aid workers • Myanmar • Burma • junta • aid agencies • Cyclone Nargis

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

US Aid Finally Winging to Cyclone Survivors

But relief effort remains minimal with a million at risk

Rain Lashes Cyclone Survivors, UN Lashes Junta

UN chief 'immensely frustrated' by Burmese junta's lack of swift action

As US, Burma Talk, Volunteers Say Junta Is Selling Aid

American troops stand ready to help relief

Burma Cyclone Toll Leaps to 4,000

Another 3,000 missing, hundreds of thousands homeless

Burma Aid Delays Less Deadly Than Feared

Villagers tough it out through cyclone's aftermath

About Us

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Newser By Users

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What is Newser?