Agencies
Yangon, May 6:
Myanmar's military government raised its death toll on Tuesday from the devastating Cyclone Nargis to just under 22,500 people, state media reported.
An additional 41,000 people were missing as a result of the cyclone, which ploughed into the Irrawaddy delta on Saturday, triggering a massive storm surge that swept inland.
"More deaths were caused by the tidal wave than the storm itself," Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe told a news conference in the devastated former capital, Yangon, where food and water supplies are running low.
"The wave was up to 12 feet (3.5 metres) high and it swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages," he said, giving the first detailed description of the weekend cyclone. "They did not have anywhere to flee."
It is the worst cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh.
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