Five days after the storm, the junta continued to stall on visas for U.N. teams and other foreign-aid workers anxious to deliver food, water and medicine to survivors amid fears the death toll could hit 100,000.

An estimated 1.5 million people in Myanmar are believed to be facing the threat of starvation and disease. "The situation is profoundly worrying," said John Holmes, a U.N. official working on the relief effort.

Among those stranded in Thailand awaiting visas were 10 members of the USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team. Air Force transport planes and helicopters packed with supplies also sat waiting for a green light.

"We are in a long line of nations who are ready, willing and able to help, but also, of course, in a long line of nations the Burmese don't trust," U.S. Ambassador Eric John told reporters in Thailand's capital, Bangkok.

"It's more than frustrating," he said. "It's a tragedy." Each day of delay means "a lot more people suffering."

Myanmar's isolationist regime issued an appeal for international assistance after winds of 120 m.p.h. and a storm surge up to 15 feet high pounded the Irrawaddy delta Saturday. But the junta has been accused of dragging its feet despite emerging reports of entire villages submerged, bodies floating in salty water, and children ripped from their parents' arms.

"My children were crying all night. There is not enough food. There will be no food this evening," said Daw Thay, who took refuge in a monastery with her three children and her 99-year-old mother in a town 60 miles south of Yangon, the country's biggest city.

In the swampy delta, a horrible stench rose from corpses and dead animals, bloated and floating in the water.

Someone had written on a black asphalt road in Kongyangon village: "We are all in trouble. Please come help us."

Tired of waiting for help in Yangon, red-robed monks, other civilians, and dozens of soldiers cleared piles of debris and toppled billboards from streets and cut branches off uprooted trees.

"They've started doing the clean-up themselves," Aye Chan Naing, chief editor of Democratic Voice of Burma, said as a light rain fell. "They are volunteers."

Public transportation was slowly coming back to life in the city, with some trains operating, and cars formed lines three miles long to get rations of two gallons of gasoline.

More than 20,000 are known dead, tens of thousands are listed as missing, and the United Nations estimates more than one million people are homeless in Myanmar, which also is known as Burma.

Four airplanes carrying high-energy biscuits, medicine and other supplies reached Yangon yesterday, U.N. officials said. Two of four U.N. experts who flew in to assess the damage were turned back at the airport for unknown reasons, but the other two were allowed to enter.

By rejecting the U.S. aid offer, the junta is refusing to take advantage of Washington's enormous ability to deliver aid quickly, which was evident during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen nations.

Tim Costello, chief executive of World Vision Australia, said that although the U.S. had "extraordinary capacity" to help, it would have to convince the junta generals that Washington had no political agenda. The U.S. government has strongly criticized the junta's suppression of pro-democracy activists.

Gordon Johndroe, President Bush's national security spokesman, said the United States was working to gain permission to enter Myanmar.

Ky Luu, director of the U.S. office of foreign disaster assistance, created a stir by saying one option being considered was air-dropping aid without permission. But Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates quickly said he could not imagine that happening, partly because dropping food into unreachable areas would not help or might cause riots as people fought over food.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej of Thailand offered to negotiate on Washington's behalf in an effort to persuade Myanmar's government to accept U.S. aid.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, sent more humanitarian supplies and equipment to a staging area in Thailand yesterday. A C-17 transport plane brought in water and food, joining the two C-130s already in place, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said at the Pentagon. Another C-130 loaded with supplies was on its way, she said.

The U.S. Navy also has three ships participating in an exercise in the Gulf of Thailand that could help in a relief effort, including an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters. China, Myanmar's closest ally, urged the junta to work with the international community.

Myanmar's state media said Cyclone Nargis had killed at least 22,997 people and left 42,019 missing.

A Health Crisis Looms in Myanmar

Health experts are scrambling to prevent widespread illness after reports of malaria outbreaks and diarrhea surfaced in areas of Myanmar hardest hit by a cyclone, U.N. health officials said yesterday.

Early estimates indicate 20 percent of children are suffering from diarrhea, and the situation could worsen, said Osamu Kunii, UNICEF's chief of

health in Yangon.

"Most of the area is covered by dirty water," he said. "There's a lot of dead bodies and they have very poor access, sometimes no access, to clean drinking water."

Water-purification tablets are unlikely to help because much of the water supply has been contaminated by saltwater, he said.

It was unclear how many people have contracted malaria, but the mosquito-borne disease is endemic to Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, health officials said. Some 10,000 mosquito nets are

being sent in.

- Associated Press

Find aid agencies accepting donations for cyclone victims at http:// go.philly.com/helpmyanmar