Cyclone's death toll 15,000 ... and rising

NEW DELHI — The government of Myanmar said today that the death toll from a weekend cyclone had reached 15,000 — 10,000 in one town alone — with potentially hundreds of thousands of people left homeless.

A top official warned that the death toll could climb higher, noting that 3,000 people were still missing.

Survivors struggled to get the injured to clinics, locate drinkable water and clear fallen trees. Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, the largest city in the impoverished country, remained without electric power.

The ruling junta, an authoritarian regime that cut the nation off from the international community for decades, appealed for foreign help in the recovery from Saturday's disaster, the country's deadliest storm on record.

But despite the disaster, the junta that has long ruled Myanmar insisted a controversial referendum on a draft constitution scheduled for Saturday will be held anyway.

U.S. first lady Laura Bush, in a rare White House question-and-answer session, chastised Myanmar's leaders for plans to proceed with the vote, saying it would give "false legitimacy to their continued rule."

Myanmar's leaders are deeply superstitious and had determined that, astrologically speaking, May 10 is the most favorable date.

The White House announced that the U.S. embassy in Myanmar had made $250,000 in emergency funds available immediately for relief efforts, but officials weren't certain the government would accept the offer. The aid probably would be channeled through U.N. agencies, and not delivered directly to the Myanmar government, because of U.S. sanctions on the military junta.

The updated death toll would make Tropical Cyclone Nargis the worst natural disaster in Southeast Asia since the 2004 tsunami that left 181,000 dead in its wake.

The storm struck Myanmar, also known as Burma, on Saturday with winds as strong as 120 mph. Particularly hard hit was the fertile, low-lying Irrawaddy River delta, which empties into the Andaman Sea. Images on Myanmar TV showed entire villages underwater or swept away. Fallen trees blocked roads, preventing relief from getting through.

Telephone lines and Internet connections were down, making communication even more difficult in a country whose autocratic rulers keep a tight rein on contact with the outside world. Aid officials said it could be several days or even weeks before a final assessment of death and damage could be made.

Many of the displaced residents in the mostly Buddhist nation were taking shelter in temple pagodas, said Christine South, Asia-Pacific operations coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Aid workers were distributing about 4,200 emergency kits with clothing, water-purification tablets, tarpaulins and other necessities in the capital, Yangon, and the Irrawaddy delta area. The federation also had more relief teams standing by in the region, waiting for a go-ahead from the Myanmar government, South said.

The cyclone might have wider implications for rice production in the region, which is beset by a food crisis.

"This is the rice bowl of Myanmar, so we have to assess the impact on food production in the longer term, " said South.

Myanmar had agreed to supply tens of thousands of tons of rice to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, according to the World Food Program (WFP), but now those prospects are uncertain.

The WFP is struggling to provide emergency food aid as fuel and food costs spiral, and the cyclone will be an added strain on its resources.

"People are having problems with drinking water," said Soe Myint, a Burmese political dissident based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, citing information from contacts in Yangon. "Prices of basic commodities have increased."

The WFP said it had 3,800 tons of food inside Myanmar when the cyclone hit, including rice, beans, salt, oil and other staples. About one-quarter of that has been distributed in Yangon.

"There is a lot of damage, and that's making it difficult for the teams to get out," spokeswoman Brenda Barton said in Rome, where the agency is based.

Laura Bush, who has taken a special interest in Myanmar, told reporters in the White House press briefing room that the administration would work with the U.N. and international nongovernmental agencies to provide water, sanitation, food and shelter, and was ready to send an assistance team and supplies.

"The government of Burma should accept this team quickly, as well as other offers of international assistance," she said.

The disaster took on a political dimension when the first lady also said that President Bush would sign legislation today authorizing the presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal to Myanmar dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The first lady also criticized Myanmar's government for not adequately warning the nation's residents of the approaching storm.

"It's troubling that many of the Burmese people learned of this impending disaster only when foreign outlets, such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, sounded the alarm," she said. "Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path."

Myint, the political dissident, said there was some criticism by residents that Myanmar's military was slow to mobilize to help citizens deal with the crisis — for example, by clearing roads in residential areas.

Last fall, the junta was quick to send troops to quell pro-democracy protests. Dozens of people are believed to have been killed in the bloody confrontations that ensued.

Despite the cyclone's catastrophic effect, it appeared the military regime remained intent on proceeding with the constitutional referendum Saturday.

The referendum is on a draft constitution that is supposed to pave the way for democratic elections in 2010 but reinforces the power of the military regime, giving generals the right to intervene in politics, and reserving 25 percent of Parliament seats for army officers, giving them a veto over constitutional change. Exile groups have charged that the voting is rigged and that citizens have been compelled to vote in favor in advance.

Material from the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post is included in this report.