Updated 8th May, 2008

DAVID ADAMS

As many as 100,000 people are now feared to have perished as a result of a deadly cyclone that swept across Burma's Irrawaddy River delta last weekend. And officials now say that up to a million people still remain missing.

Initial figures had the death toll at 350 after Cyclone Nargis tore through the southern delta region, about 250 kilometres south-west of the major city of Rangoon, with winds of up to 190 kilometres per hour and a storm surge as high as 3.5 metres. But the death toll has risen sharply in the ensuing days and it's now estimated that as many as 100,000 may have died with reports that the Burmese military have suggested as many as 80,000 may haave died in the Labutta district alone.

As many as a million people are said to be left without shelter after the cyclone flattened entire communities. The UN have said that around 5,000 square kilometres remains under water.

Australia is among a number of nations who have pledged assistance with the Federal Government announcing it would provide $3 million in assistance.  Numerous aid agencies have now also launched appeals.

World Vision Australia chief Tim Costello has been allowed into the disaster-stricken nation. He has told the ABC the situation is "devastating".

"The truth is that whatever we do is a drop in the bucket. This is extraordinarily devastating, over 250 kilometres plus and we need every bit of help and replenishing supplies urgently."

Reporting for the BBC, Paul Danaher describes the devastation in the country where you can drive around the corner and and see a village "which as been literally wiped off the map". But he adds that what's so unsual about this disaster is the absence of relief traffic.

"Normally when you cover a natural disaster the roads you are going down are choked with relief effort - with refugees going one way and with aid going the other," he writes. "The roads we have been going down, straight into the Irrawaddy delta, are empty."

World Vision, which has some 580 staff in the country, have launched a $3 million appeal in the wake of the cyclone. Red Cross workers are also in the country, distributing life-saving relief items such as drinking water, clothing, food, plastic tarpaulins, and hygiene kits.

On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “very much alarmed” by news of the rising death toll and added that the lack of communications had made it difficult to assess the extent of casualties and damage.

James Pinglay, the teenage son of a Gospel for Asia missionary, was a Bible college in Rangoon when the storm hit. In a statement on Gospel for Asia’s website he told of the terror during the storm and the destruction they found in its aftermath.

“(W)e found that the windows from our chapel had broken and water was all over the place in the office, chapel, classrooms and dormitories,” he said. “The two-storey staff quarters had no roof...Countless houses in the neighbourhood were totally destroyed.”

Mr Pinglay said the price of essentials and food have shot up in the wake of the storm and the water and electricity supply had been cut off.

“When we went to the city we saw that there was no place left for the people to stay,” he said. “They were literally on the streets. They have to sleep on the streets and cook on the streets. People here are suffering.”

The cyclone is the worst to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people were killed in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The following non-government organisations are running appeals:

• Austcare: www.austcare.org.au

• Care Australia: www.careaustralia.org.au

• Caritas: www.caritas.org.au

• Red Cross: www.redcross.org.au or phone 1800 811 700

• Save the Children Australia: www.savethechildren.org.au

• TEAR Australia:  www.tear.org.au

• World Vision: www.worldvision.com.au