Another storm heading for Burma

THE United Nations today warned another storm was headed in the direction of Burma, which could complicate the slow-moving relief efforts from deadly Cyclone Nargis.
An estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless by the disaster, which has killed tens of thousands, and the storm could pose serious risks to those battling disease, said Richard Horsey, a UN relief spokesman.

"Our meteorological people tell us there's likely to be fairly strong rainfall in the next seven days,'' he said.

"That's going to be a big issue with unpaved roads. Heavy rainfall could complicate things for all those people going without shelter,'' Horsey said.

"If there's an epidemic of water-borne disease and a lack of shelter when a storm comes in ... if we have another storm coming into the delta, that's going to be a significant concern for all those people without shelter.''

The country's military, which has run Burma with an iron fist for almost half a century, said earlier that it welcomed shipments of supplies but was "not ready'' to let in foreign aid workers, including disaster experts.

"If we don't get this relief effort up to full scale quickly, there's significant risk of a second round of this disaster which could potentially kill as many people as the initial cyclone,'' Mr Horsey said.

_{Bron: Herald Sun}