Brown tells Myanmar to lift aid restrictions immediately

အက်ဥ္းခ်ဳပ္ကဒီစာေနရာကိုဖ်က္ျပီးေရး

Alexander urged Ban Ki-moon to visit the region as soon as possible to raise the need for immediate access directly with the Myanmar authorities and key partners in nearby countries.

"The scale of the disaster and the urgency to act quickly cannot be overstated," Alexander said. "Now is the time to work together, in a spirit of common humanity, to save lives."

Britain has already pledged up to five million pounds (6.3 million euros, 9.7 million dollars) for the relief effort. An emergency team is set to travel to Myanmar to support the work of its team already there and the UN effort.

The Disasters Emergency Committee umbrella group of British charities and aid agencies has raised four million pounds in two days, it said Friday, also warning of the risk of further deaths from disease if aid is barred.

Earlier Friday, Britain's ambassador to Myanmar, Mark Canning, quoted credible sources as saying the number of dead and missing in last week's cyclone was between 63,000 and 100,000.

But the figure could rise "very dramatically" as up to 1.9 million people are considered vulnerable, he said on a conference call to reporters in London from Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.

I got it from here.