UN chief urges Myanmar to allow quick arrival of aid

A worker of the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) helps to load an Airbus 300 for Yangon, Myanmar in the airport of Brindisi, South Italy, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. The UNHRD managed by the World Food Program has organized an airlift of aid worth around US$ 560,000 on behalf of the Italian Foreign Ministry's Development Cooperation Office in response to urgent humanitarian assistance after the tropical cyclone Nargis. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

UNITED NATIONS—Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar's government on Wednesday to speed up the arrival of aid workers and relief supplies "in every way possible" after Cyclone Nargis left an estimated 1 million homeless.

Myanmar's government has confirmed that nearly 23,000 people died and more than 42,000 are missing. U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said the death toll may rise "very significantly."

Ban welcomed news that some U.N. aid officials will be allowed into Myanmar on Thursday but is calling for other aid workers to be allowed in quickly as well, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.

Four Asian members of a U.N. disaster coordination team have clearance to fly to Myanmar on Thursday. A fifth member, who is not Asian, is still trying to get a visa.

The United Nations will be issuing an emergency appeal for assistance for the cyclone victims on Friday, Holmes said, adding that he did not know how much the U.N. would be seeking.

Holmes said a U.N. plane with supplies from the U.N. warehouse in Brindisi, Italy, "will be arriving in the next couple of days and that will also take a team in."

He said U.N. officials have been discussing access for aid workers and relief supplies "intensively with the government of Myanmar both here and in Yangon."

"I think we are making some progress," Holmes said. "I think we are moving in the right direction."

But he stressed: "We have to go a lot further."

While the U.N. and some aid agencies have staff in Myanmar, Holmes said they are not experts on coordinating an international response to disasters and emergency relief. That's why the U.N. and the agencies need emergency relief teams to arrive quickly, he said.