BANGKOK, 11 May 2008 (IRIN) - An estimated 1.5 million people in Myanmar are on the brink of a "massive public health catastrophe," the British charity Oxfam warned this weekend, as reports say desperate survivors of cyclone Nargis pour out of the Irrawaddy Delta into regional towns in search of water, food and other forms of help.

The dire warning – and a plea for greater international access to the area – came after the United Nations and non-governmental organisations issued a flash appeal for US$187 million. a risk assessment which, as well as waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid, warns of an increased threat of malaria and dengue fever, as receding floods will increase the number of breeding sites for mosquitos. The WHO's latest update reports cases of diarrhoea and dysentery in the affected areas.

Immediately after the cyclone, Myanmar's government appealed for international help with the catastrophe.

But so far the authorities have refused to allow most foreign aid workers to enter the country, saying it preferred to receive supplies that the army, and the Myanmar Red Cross, which has close ties to the regime, can distribute themselves.

"Currently Myanmar has prioritised receiving emergency relief provisions and making strenuous effort of delivering it with its own labour to the affected areas," the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said on 9 May. "Myanmar is not in a position to receive rescue and information teams from foreign countries at the moment," it added.

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