With little outside help, monks and residents have launched make-shift clean-up efforts [AFP]

Aid agencies are rushing to gather much needed emergency supplies for cyclone-hit Myanmar, but say delays in obtaining clearance from Myanmar's military rulers are holding up relief efforts.

With the toll continuing to climb, estimates of the number of homeless survivors are still scarce.

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It said the situation outside Yangon was "critical, with shelter and safe water being the principal immediate needs".

On Tuesday, the UN said it had received a "careful green light" from the government to begin aid deliveries, but many other agencies said they were still encountering delays.

In Yangon itself by early Tuesday, city residents were queuing up to share bottled water and there was still no electricity supply, more than three days after the storm hit.

The US embassy in the city has authorised the release of $250,000 in immediate emergency aid, and Laura Bush, wife of the US president, pledged that more would be forthcoming.

Yangon residents face long queues for access to clean water [AFP]

However, Bush, a prominent critic of the ruling military, said Myanmar would first have to allow entry to a US disaster-response team that so far has been kept out.

India, one of Myanmar's closest allies, has said two naval ships loaded with food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicine would sail for Yangon soon.

China, Myanmar's biggest trading partner and a staunch diplomatic ally, has also said it is ready to help.

"As a friendly neighbour, China will provide help and aid to Myanmar's reconstruction efforts," state media quoted Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, as saying.

Myanmar's ruling generals have previously shunned offers of international assistance and place tight restrictions on the few international aid agencies allowed to operate in Myanmar.

With the death toll continuing the rise, Nargis looks set to be the worst storm to hit Asia since 1991 when 143,000 were killed in Bangladesh.

Tidal surge

Cyclone Nargis was a category three storm when it hit Myanmar's densely-populated Irrawaddy Delta region late on Friday - the same strength as Hurricane Katrina when it struck the US city of New Orleans in 2005.

Winds peaking at more than 200 kph were followed by a huge tidal surge that swept through the vulnerable low-lying delta towns, wiping out entire communities.

The few aerial pictures coming in from the region hint at the devastation, but the full impact is still being assessed.

The delta region is Myanmar's most important agricultural region, so the impact of the disaster is likely to be long-lasting.

Reports from towns such as Laputta, Paduya and Bogalay paint a picture of almost total destruction.

Under-developed, impoverished and with only a basic infrastructure, the region is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.

Most homes are built only of flimsy bamboo and wood, offering little protection from a storm of the ferocity of Nargis.

In any case, many survivors complain they were given little or no warning from the government of the approaching storm.

Witnesses say most recovery work has been undertaken by monks and local residents using what tools they can find. Police and military assistance has been patchy.

"The regime has lost a golden opportunity to send the soldiers as soon as the storm stopped to win the heart and soul of people," one retired civil servant told Reuters news agency.

"Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year."

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