YANGON - Myanmar's military authorities and foreign aid workers struggled to assess the damage from a devastating cyclone that killed more than 350 people and left tens of thousands homeless.State media said 20,000 homes were destroyed on one island alone after Cyclone Nargis, a Category 3 storm packing winds of 190km/h, ripped through Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been left without shelter, power and drinking water.
Residents of Yangon lit candles, lined up to buy water and hacked their way through trees.
"We know that it's several hundred thousand needing shelter and clean drinking water, but how many hundred thousand we just don't know," Richard Horsey, of the United Nations disaster response office in Bangkok, said.
The death toll is likely to climb as the authorities slowly make contact with islands and villages in the delta.
Some in Yangon complained that the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help victims, only clearing streets where the ruling elite resided but leaving residents to cope on their own in most other areas.
"Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?" a trishaw driver, who refused to be identified for fear of retribution, said. "They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity."
Residents, as well as Buddhist monks from the city's many monasteries, banded together, wielding axes and knives to clear roads of tree trunks and branches.
With the city's already unstable electricity supply virtually nonfunctional, citizens lined up to buy candles, which doubled in price, as well as water since a lack of electricity-driven pumps left most households dry. Some walked to the city's lakes to wash. Hotels and richer families were using private generators but only sparingly, given the soaring price of fuel.
Public transport was almost at a standstill and vehicles on the road had to cope with navigating without traffic lights. Many stayed away from their jobs, either because they could not find transportation or because they had to seek food and shelter for their families.
"Without my daily earning, just survival has become a big problem for us," said Tin Hla, who normally repairs umbrellas at a roadside stand. With his shanty town house destroyed by the storm, Tin Hla said he has had to place his family of five into one of the monasteries that have offered temporary shelter to the many homeless.
"The Government is having as much trouble as anyone else in getting a full overview. Roads are not accessible and many small villages were hit and will take time to reach," Terje Skavdal, regional head of the UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The regime named Prime Minister Thein Sein to lead its relief effort in five declared disaster zones. The carnage left by Nargis has not derailed a May 10 referendum on a new Army-drafted constitution.
Only one in four buildings were left standing in Laputta and Kyaik Lat, two towns in the rice-producing region. Some 90,000 people were homeless on the island of Haingyi, around 200km southwest of Yangon.
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