by Claire Truscott
   
Frustrated aid agencies said yesterday they were still being denied permission to enter Myanmar and help desperate survivors of a weekend cyclone that has left millions homeless and without food and water.
Pledges of cash, supplies and assistance are pouring in from around the world, but little is reaching the reclusive country, and experts are warning of a catastrophe if they are not allowed in to direct the relief effort.
A vast swathe of Myanmar's low-lying delta region was inundated by the storm which hit Saturday, killing more than 22,000, sweeping away entire towns, and triggering fears that disease could push the death toll still higher.
International charity Save the Children said Myanmar authorities had given aid workers no word on when visas would be granted.
"We have absolutely no idea of what progress, if any, will be made on better visa management," its Bangkok-based spokesman Dan Collinson said, after a meeting of relief agencies at UN offices here.
"We're frustrated. At the moment we still have a reasonable amount of capacity in-country, but that's going to run out very quickly," he said.
"This issue is one of a number being raised at a high UN level. I think the maximum amount of pressure is being applied at the highest level of UN discussions."
The junta has insisted that foreign aid workers must "negotiate" their entry to the country, which has long spurned the outside world.
The UN said Wednesday that the regime has finally appointed a minister to review visa applications by aid workers, but that no permits have yet been issued.
World Vision said it was now trying to arrange visas in countries other than Thailand as it attempted "all kinds of options" to enter the country.
Charities had hoped the junta would set aside usual visa arrangements to give aid workers open access to the disaster zone.
Aid experts said that while some agencies were already operating in Myanmar, disaster relief specialists were desperately needed to ensure supplies made it to the worst-affected areas.
Technical experts trained in water management and disease prevention were also essential, they said.
"Time is of the essence," said Ann Veneman, executive director of UN children's agency UNICEF. "Children are highly vulnerable to disease and hunger, and they need immediate help to survive."
Both UNICEF and Medecins Sans Frontieres said they had staff poised to be deployed as soon as they were given the green light.
"We are hoping to get in as soon as possible and we want to be ready," UNICEF's Bangkok-based spokeswoman Shantha Bloemen told AFP.
"Our 130 staff there are working round the clock doing an amazing job but burn-out is going to be a big problem. We're concerned for their welfare and how long they will be able to sustain the effort."
In New York, Rashid Khalikov of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs pleaded with the junta to open its borders.
"We really hope it will happen very quickly. We applied for visas. We have not got the visas," he said.
Individual offers of help continue to flood in from around the world, including two million euros from the European Union, 10 million dollars from Britain and one million dollars from China.
The UN said an aid flight bearing emergency supplies and accompanied by its disaster experts had won approval to travel from from Italy Wednesday, and China, Singapore and Bangladesh also sent planes loaded with relief materials.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched an emergency appeal for almost six million dollars to buy urgently needed items like shelter kids, water and mosquito nets.

*AFP