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Yangon: The US military said on Friday it is keeping 22 helicopters on standby in case Myanmar's ruling junta reverses its rejection of such help for cyclone victims, saying the aircraft could ferry emergency supplies to most survivors within three days.
Lieutenant General John Goodman, commander of Marine Forces Pacific and head of the US relief operation for Myanmar, said, "Of the 1 million or 1.5 million people in need of relief support, we think that between 450,000 to 750,000 are in emergency need."
They could be reached "over the course of a three-day period" by American helicopters and landing craft, he said in telephone interview from a temporary US staging area at Utapao, Thailand.
Goodman said the junta was "still considering" the offer, which would include allowing Myanmar officials aboard all US helicopters to monitor their routes and to unload relief supplies.
With only seven Myanmar government helicopters reportedly flying, relief supplies are mostly being transported along dirt roads and then by boat. International aid agencies say boats able to navigate the delta's canals are scarce and efforts to import vehicles have been hampered by government red tape.
Myanmar's military rulers have allowed Marine C-130 cargo planes to fly 116 missions to deliver more than 2.2 million pounds of aid to Yangon, the country's biggest city, Goodman said. But US military units have been kept out of hard-to-reach areas in the devastated Irrawaddy delta.
The junta is particularly sensitive to letting in US helicopters, which would highlight the American effort in a country where the people have been taught to see the US as a hostile aggressor. Washington is a leading critic of the junta for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.
Myanmar's government, meanwhile, lashed out at its own citizens and foreign media for what it called distorted coverage of the aftermath of the devastating storm a month ago. It said the country's image had been tarnished by false claims that aid isn't getting to people.
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