American Admiral Takes Plea To Burma

Video

More U.S. Aid Heading to Myanmar

Myanmar's military junta has agreed to accept more U.S. help, opening the door for what could be a massive cyclone relief operation. However, the United Nations warned that less than a quarter of the victims' needs are being met.

» LAUNCH VIDEO PLAYER

In New York, Ban warned of an "outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's crisis."

"Handled properly, Myanmar can recover from this calamity," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters. "Handled poorly, it will become an even deeper crisis that will set back the country's people and its government for years."

U.N. relief agencies have reached fewer than a third of the people in need, he said. Rice stocks are nearly exhausted, and the U.N. World Food Program is distributing only about 10 percent of the food that is needed.

The United Nations' chief relief coordinator, John Holmes, said Monday that heavy rains are forecast for Burma's delta region, which would place added strain on survivors and relief workers. Bodies have been washed out to sea, making it likely that "we may never have a very exact figure" for the dead, he said.

Health workers have so far detected only isolated cases of diarrhea and malaria, Holmes said. But large numbers of survivors are beginning to concentrate in a small number of towns, which could increase the spread of disease.

The government raised its officially confirmed death toll to 31,938 on Monday. But Sam Worthington, president of InterAction, a coalition of 165 U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations that work abroad, said in an interview in Washington that reports from people on the ground as well as U.N. helicopter assessments increasingly indicate that the number of dead could be as high as 200,000.

He said 218 makeshift camps serving 196,000 displaced people have opened across the Irrawaddy Delta area, the focus of the storm. So far, they contain only a small percentage of the estimated 1.5 million displaced people.

The camps have been set up by Burmese working for various aid organizations that were already operating in Burma, such as World Vision, Save the Children and Pact. But Worthington said the camps are woefully short of infrastructure; one camp has five latrines for 3,500 people, he said.

Lynch reported from the United Nations. Staff writer Glenn Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.