Cyclone survivors drink clean water from the local donator at a monastery on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, yesterday. More than three weeks after the storm, people huddled along roadsides, desperate for any sort of handout. The United Nations estimated less than half the 2.4 million people victimised by the May 2-3 storm had received emergency assistance. - AP

YANGON, Myanmar (AP):

INTERNATIONAL AID workers have finally begun entering Myanmar's cyclone-devastated delta area after being blocked for more than three weeks by the country's military junta, officials said yesterday.

But the United Nations (UN) stressed that an estimated 1.5 million people in the Irrwaddy River delta were still in dire need and had not received aid. Official government estimates put the death toll at about 78,000 with an additional 56,000 people missing.

The apparent breakthrough in the flow of aid for victims of Cyclone Nargis came after promises made by Myanmar's ruling generals to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who returned to New York on Sunday after a four-day visit.

"International aid workers are starting to move to the delta," said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok for the UN humanitarian effort in Myanmar. Helicopters also began shuttling high-energy biscuits and ready-to-eat meals into the hardest hit area yesterday, he said.

The French aid agency Doctors Without Borders said its teams had entered remote villages around the delta town of Bogalay where people had not eaten for three days.

"Thousands of people have not seen any aid workers and still have not received any assistance," the group said.