US diplomat: 100,000 may have died in Myanmar cyclone (PHOTOS)

YANGON, Myanmar — Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said Wednesday that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone.

Hungry crowds stormed the few shops that opened in the country's stricken Irrawaddy delta, sparking fist fights, according to Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in neighboring Thailand.

Shari Villarosa, who heads the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, said food and water are running short in the delta area and called the situation there "increasingly horrendous."

"There is a very real risk of disease outbreaks as long as this continues," Villarosa told reporters.

State media in Myanmar, also known as Burma, reported that nearly 23,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis blasted the country's western coast on Saturday and more than 42,000 others were missing.

Keep reading here.

Scroll down for satellite images form before and after the cyclone hit Myanmar.

[BEFORE]

[AFTER]

Comments

[GOP4MoreTears]

The Myanmar military junta sure does remind one of how the Bu$h administration acted during hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the gulf coast, refusing help from around the world and taking a hard-line stance. Tyrants are all alike.

[RJII]

we need to focus on this mess called America.

[Jonahson]

At the moment US Navy does not have the green light to enter and assist. Meanwhile SOS to anyone to donate and contact NGO's to see if they can get your donations through. As we read many are stranded without food and bottled water and are at the mercy of the elements. They are in urgent need of bottled water, tents, food and medicine. Antibiotics against water born diseases and other medicine will be required. Do not send electrical appliances.

[elcojonu]

Global Warming Anyone ?
Get more and more used to these things.
Ahhh, but Al is the prophet of doom according to some.

[dgscol]

This has nothing to do with global warming - since the earth has actually cooled. Hurricanes happen. The lesson here for the Chinese people is , the US will stand off and do nothing to defy their leadership; and their leadership does not care about their demise.

Why? Because the generals are in charge and if we want to trade, export our factories there, then we need their consent.

[Seamus75]

This has even less to do with China than it does with global warming - Myanmar is a completely different country.

[Elderta]

avaaz.org

[jesuswazasocialist]

Do people actually believe these figures? An Communist closed society is going to tell the world the truth? The regime in Burma has always been secretive. These generals have now been given an golden opportunity to dig up the people they murdered in the last repressive crackdown on those Buddhist monks months ago. They can now explain there disappearance.

[Jonahson]

Jeeze! Burma or nowadays called Myanmar is not a communist country. It is ruled my a millitary junta.
The final figure given could be close to a hundred thousand, a majority of the victims is from a town with about 90K people wkich took the brunt of the cyclone.

[yathink]

Oh, but the primary is soo much more important. America looks at its naval.

[Kalima]

From a few 100 to almost 100,000 is heart breaking. There seems to be a problem getting
the aid to the people in need because of visa restrictions by the military Junta. This time
however, they can't disconnect Burma from the eyes of the rest of world and even they
should be aware that they can't handle this terrible situation by themselves. I pray for
the victims alive as well as dead and hope that the living will receive food, water and
shelter soon.

[julescator]

My heart goes out to these people. The is a human tragedy of epic proportions. I hope they get all the help they need. I hope we can focus on this and help.

[j.gold]

I understand how they must feel. A storm hit's and their government who won't help them or let anyone in to help them. then they are left to starve and rot with bodies floating in the streets.

And by the way, I didn't hear ol' Laura Bush say anything about our conditions when her husband did the same damn thing to us in New Orleans.

[RSU]

You need to point your crooked little finger at Kathleen Blanco j.gold. It was she who prevented FEMA from entering the city. It was her and her poorly trained Emergency Management Team who failed the good people of New Orleans.

As bad as Michael Brown was, he was nothing compared to a woman who feared loss of power and control to an administration she'd been told to hate by the Democratic Party since 2001.

Instead of allowing Greyhound buses in to take the people away from the Superdome, she locked them in fearing they would commit crimes in the outer cities. She then prevented food and water drops from arriving by helicopter after repeated calls to allow them to go in.

Her only offer of assistance in the aftermath was a day of prayer and muddled thinking . . . if we can even call it thinking.

Bush did what he had to do and that was to honor a States right to refuse aid in their most dire time of need.

[chronic]

I don"t remember them marching Laura out in the Katrina aftermath. Or do they think that since she got on camera and pleaded for a good cause her dumb husbands poll ratings will shoot up?

And is new son in law Henry planning on serving a year in Afghanistan or Iraq to show his support for the war has new daddy in law started?

I doubt it!

Bush held back Army rescue for three days to use as leverage in his petty power spat with the Governor over who was in charge. while people died.

now he/she is holding back Burma relief as leverage with the Junta for whatever reason. while people die.
Human lives are just pawns in the power game for the Bushies.

9/11, Eyerack, you name it. hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of innocent lives lost, just so they can get leverage and power.

BUSH Administration, is fully responsible for the Katrina catastrophy. We need a constitutional referendum like yesterday-it"s 3 years past due.

With all the human rights violations that Bush administration have, it"s time to demand for a constitutional referendum to ban Bush monarchy in America.

[eileen]

Wow! Either you are one of the many toxic trolls at this site or you drink A LOT of Republican Kool-Aid.

Heal (and TRULY inform) thyself.

[softwoodslumber]

A tragedy that is bigger than Katrina....doesn't make a lot of 'waves' in the news cycle does it. But Madonna and Lohan does - WTF?

[shockmagog]

Cyclone Nargis timeline:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2008/h2008_nargis.html

Cyclone season runs from April through December in the Indian Ocean.

[paulcanning]

bump ...

c'mon Huffpost - add links to relief agencies for donations

NYT is doing it
Google is doing it

JUST DO IT

readers/posters/commenters - tell them

[rini]

I wonder why more people aren't speaking of this tragedy. There are only a few posts on this article.

[BourbonDemocrat]

Because everyone is obsessed with this Obama vs. Hillary nonsense.

This says all anyone needs to know about Americans and our priorities. No wonder the world hates us.

[Independent007]

I am paying attention. But since Burma does not want international help. I can't pay much attention to the story.
Sad very sad indeed.

[localman]

WOW!! I'm amazed i've had 4 posts removed from here for no reason. HUFFPO has fallen to being one of the worst places on the net regarding censorship and becoming just another site in a long line of repeaters.. Shame on you HuffPo. How you've fallen.

HuffPo has about 1/10th the integrity that RawStory does.

BOOOOOOOO!!

[docmandingo]

My only criticism of HuffPo is that they haven't removed a fifth of your posts.

[LibsRway2funny]

I agree, HuffPo is what I call Xtreme Censorship Blogging.

[rini]

Maybe the posts are lost accidentally. Seriously, if they weren't offensive, maybe it was a random thing.