As Many as 10,000 Dead in Burma Cyclone
热带风暴重创缅甸

Burmese state media say it is now believed that as many as 10,000 people are dead and thousands more missing after Tropical Cyclone Nargis ripped through parts of the country, destroying homes, bringing down power lines and knocking out communications. Earlier figures had put the death toll far lower.

缅甸国家媒体报导说，热带风暴“纳尔吉斯”席卷缅甸部分地区，造成将近4千人死亡，几千人失踪。房屋被毁坏，电线杆被吹倒，通信系统也被中断。早些时候公布的死亡人数远远低于目前的死亡人数。

With some telephone lines working again and the airport at the main city, Rangoon, reopened, reports of death and destruction trickled out of Burma Monday, giving a glimpse of the extent of the enormous devastation the cyclone inflicted on the impoverished country.

随着电话线路恢复正常以及缅甸主要城市仰光的机场重新开放，有关死亡和遭受破坏的报导星期一开始逐渐从缅甸传到外界，使人们略微了解这次灾难给缅甸这个贫穷国家造成的巨大损失。

Among those arriving in Bangkok Monday, on one of the first flights out of Rangoon, was Sweden's former Minister of Democracy and Integration, Jens Orback, who tells VOA the main city is paralyzed.

发生灾难后第一班航班星期一从仰光飞抵曼谷，其中一位乘客是瑞典前民主统一部部长奥尔巴克。他对美国之音说，整个仰光市处于瘫痪状态。

"The electricity went out," he said. "The telephones didn't work. The TV, the radio, the cellular telephones, everything was wiped out. When talking to people, they were very upset in the beginning that nobody from the military, from the police, from the fire forces were out on the street. Only private people were there with machetes, actually trying to get rid of the trees.

他说：“没有电源，电话也不能用。电视、收音机、手机，所有东西都被破坏了。当我跟人们谈话时，他们非常沮丧，因为没有任何军人、警察和消防队伍在街道上。只有一些个人手持弯刀，试图砍掉那些树枝。”

"I talked to some civilians on the market and they were a little bit surprised that nobody was doing anything," he added. "Because if there's anything that are very present in Burma otherwise, it's police and military but there were none of them out in the hours after the disaster."

Thousands are homeless, and much of the city remains without water or public transportation.

几千人无家可归，仰光大部分地方仍然没有水，也没有公共交通。

The few reports coming in from the countryside suggest the devastation is widespread. Burmese state radio said nearly 3,000 people were missing in one town, Bogalay, in the country's Irawaddy River Delta - an area believed to be especially hard-hit.

极少数地来自农村地区的报导说，这次风暴造成的破坏范围很广。缅甸国家广播电台说，缅甸伊落瓦底江三角州地区受灾情况特别严重，该地区的一个镇有将近3千人失踪。

In a rare gesture, at a meeting with foreign diplomats and representatives of U.N. agencies and international aid organizations, the military government said it welcomed humanitarian assistance . Analysts say the military leadership has in the past refrained from accepting foreign aid for fear of appearing weak.

缅甸军政府在和外国大使、联合国机构和国际援助组织的代表们举行的一次会议上说，缅甸欢迎人道主义援助。这是缅甸作出的一个不常见的举动。分析人士说，缅甸军政府过去一直拒绝接受外国援助，因为怕被别的国家看作软弱。

Burmese officials called for aid including roofing materials, medicine, tents, blankets, and water purifying tablets. Thailand, Burma's neighbor and one of its biggest trading partners, announced it would airlift aid on Tuesday.

The disaster comes at a sensitive time for Burma's military junta, which is trying to build credibility in the face of international criticism over its violent crackdown last year on Buddhist monks and other mostly peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators.

这次灾难发生的时候，对缅甸军政府来说是一个敏感的时刻。由于国际社会谴责缅甸军政府去年镇压佛教僧侣和其他倡导民主的示威者，缅甸军政府正在试图树立威信。

The generals say they plan to go ahead with a constitutional referendum next Saturday. They say the vote is another step in the process of returning Burma to democracy following more than four decades of military rule. Members of the international community, including the United States, have called the referendum a sham because the drafting of the document excluded the country's main opposition groups.

缅甸军政府的将军们表示，他们将按计划在星期六举行制宪公投。他们说，制宪公投是缅甸经历了40多年军人统治后在重返民主的进程中迈出的又一个重要步骤。包括美国在内的国际社会称这次公投是虚假的，因为宪法起草过程将缅甸的主要反对党排除在外。

Professor Win Min, an expert on Burmese politics at Chiang Mai University in neighboring Thailand, says the government is taking a risk by pushing ahead with the referendum at a time when people are struggling to survive and recover from the disaster.

"Now, people may see nothing to lose and people may even get angry that the government is not really caring about them, but just caring about the referendum," he said. "The urgent need for the people is not the referendum, but relief."

Adding to public frustration are rising prices of basic goods. Reports from Rangoon said the price of gasoline and some basic food products quadrupled since the cyclone hit.

The United Nations said it was sending a disaster assessment team into the country in an effort to mobilize aid. It is not clear how much access the team will have inside Burma. The Burmese authorities normally enforce tight restrictions on the movements of aid organizations in the country.