Death toll passes 22,000 in Myanmar cyclone [View All]

[Dr.Phool]

Source: MSNBC. com

MSNBC News Services
updated 1 hour, 1 minute ago

YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from a powerful cyclone that slammed into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta was raised to more than 22,000 people on Tuesday, state media reported.

An additional 41,000 people were missing as a result of the cyclone, which triggered a massive storm surge that swept inland and left people with nowhere to run, killing at least 10,000 people in one town alone.

"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 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."


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24478247/