Death toll tops 15,000 in Myanmar cyclone: state media
YANGON (AFP) — More than 15,000 people have died in Myanmar after a cyclone hit the country at the weekend, including 10,000 people in a single town, a state newspaper said Tuesday in the latest update on casualties.
The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that the town of Bogalay, located in the heart of the Irrawaddy river delta where the storm swept ashore, had suffered 10,000 deaths.
The cyclone pounded the delta and then tore through Myanmar's main city of Yangon, leaving a total of 15,000 dead across the country, the paper said.
The latest toll marked a 50 percent jump from the estimate given on state television late Monday by Foreign Minister Nyan Win, who said 10,000 people had been killed nationwide.
The storm devastated Myanmar's main rice-growing region, which is home to about 24 million people, or nearly half the country's population.
State television has shown images of entire communities submerged by the massive storm surge that accompanied the cyclone.
Aid agencies dispatched teams Tuesday to assess the damage and to find ways of delivering emergency relief to the region, which has been largely cut off from the rest of the country.
Myanmar's military rulers, who normally shun foreign assistance, have openly requested international aid to deal with the storm.
