Cyclone Nargis hits Myanmar 351 Died

[weatherbud]

Survivors say military junta has been slow to respond to disaster

YANGON, Myanmar - A powerful cyclone killed more than 350 people and destroyed thousands of homes, state-run media said Sunday. Some dissident groups worried that the military junta running Myanmar would be reluctant to ask for international help.

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit at a delicate time for the junta, less than a week ahead of a crucial referendum on a new constitution. Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box.

Some in Yangon complained the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help victims after Saturday's storm.

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[weatherbud]

Here's the update:

Radio: Cyclone kills at least 4,000 in Myanmar
At least 3,000 still unaccounted for in single city; thousands left homeless.

YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from a devastating cyclone has risen to almost 4,000, a Myanmar state radio station said Monday.

The radio station broadcasting from the country's capital Naypyitaw said that almost 3,000 more people are unaccounted for in a single town in the country's low-lying Irrawaddy River delta area. The government had previously put the death toll countrywide from Saturday's Cyclone Nargis at 351.

The storm has plunged residents of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, into a primitive existence Monday, using candles instead of electricity, lining up to buy shrinking supplies of water and hacking their way through streets blocked by felled trees.

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