UN's top disaster official arrives in Myanmar

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

YANGON (AFP) — The UN's top disaster official John Holmes arrived in Myanmar on Sunday on a three-day visit to convince the reluctant regime to open the doors to a massive relief effort after Cyclone Nargis.

He arrived just hours after the latest UN emergency report on the country -- where around two million survivors are lacking food and water more than two weeks after the storm hit -- said basic needs were still critical.

The international community has been turning up the pressure on the regime over its handling of the tragedy, which has left nearly 134,000 people dead or missing since tearing into the southern Irrawaddy Delta on May 2.

Holmes was carrying a letter to the head of the junta, Than Shwe, from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who will...