UN begins food distribution in cyclone-ravaged parts of Myanmar

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The UN's World Food Program said it has reached the first of an estimated 1 million people left homeless by the devastating cyclone that ravaged the coast of Myanmar. It added, however, that many coastal areas remained cut off from food supplies because of flooding and road damage. "WFP food assistance has now begun to reach persons who are without shelter or food resources in and around Yangon," the country's largest city, Chris Kaye, the agency's director for Myanmar, said in a statement Tuesday. He added that additional truckloads of food would be dispatched Wednesday to Labutta township, the area hardest hit by the cyclone that struck at the weekend. The death toll in the country, also known as Burma, rose above 22,000 Tuesday, with more than 41,000 others missing, state radio reported.