The ruling junta, an authoritarian regime that has cut the nation off from the international community for decades, appealed for foreign aid to help in the recovery from Saturday's disaster, the country's deadliest storm on record.

The casualty count has been rising quickly as authorities reach hard-hit islands and villages in the Irrawaddy delta, the country's major rice-producing region, which bore the brunt of Cyclone Nargis' 120-mile-per-hour winds.

Myanmar Foreign Minister told diplomats in Yangon Monday that more than 10,000 people may have died when the cyclone struck.

Yesterday, state television confirmed fears of a rapidly rising toll, reporting that 10,000 perished in the town of Bogalay and raising concern that the country's overall death toll would rise significantly.

Residents of Yangon, the former capital of 6.5 million, said they were angry that the government failed to adequately warn them of the approaching storm and that it had done little to alleviate their plight.

"The government misled people," said Thin Thin, a grocery-store owner. "They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared."

Some in Yangon complained that the 400,000-strong military was only clearing streets where the ruling elite resided, while leaving residents, including Buddhist monks, to cope on their own with the huge tangles of uprooted trees.

"There are some army trucks out to clear the roads," said Barry Broman, a retired U.S. State Department officer who was in Yangon when the cyclone struck, "but most of the work was done with a dah [knife] by the people. Some of these tree trunks are 4-feet thick."

The death toll would be the highest from a natural disaster in Southeast Asia since the tsunami of December 2004, which killed 229,866 people as it devastated coastlines in Indonesia, Thailand and other parts of southeast and south Asia. In the wake of the tsunami, an extensive early warning system was set up in the Pacific region.

Before yesterday's state media confirmation of 10,000 dead in just one town, Myanmar state radio said 3,939 people perished as high winds and huge storm surges battered coastal areas, with an additional 2,879 reported missing in Bogalay, 60 miles south of Yangon.

Foreign Minister Nyan Win told Yangon-based diplomats the death toll could rise to more than 10,000 in the region, which sits barely above sea level, according to Asian diplomats.

Hundreds of thousands were left homeless and without clean drinking water, said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The diplomats said they were told Myanmar, also known as Burma, welcomed international humanitarian aid, including urgently needed roofing materials, medicine, water-purifying tablets, and mosquito nets. The first shipment was scheduled to arrive from Thailand today.

The appeal for outside aid was unusual for Myanmar's ruling generals, who have long been suspicious of international organizations and have closely controlled their activities. Several agencies, including the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, have limited their presence as a result.

Allowing foreigners in carries risks for the military, injecting unwanted outside influence. However, keeping out international aid would focus blame squarely on the military should it fail to restore people's livelihoods.

In Washington, Laura Bush said the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar had authorized an emergency contribution of $250,000 to help with relief efforts and would provide more if the government allowed a U.S. disaster-assistance response team to enter the country to assess needs.

"The response to this cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta's failures to meet its people's basic needs," she said.

Washington is one of the ruling junta's sharpest critics for its poor human-rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.

The cyclone came just a week before a crucial referendum on a military-backed constitution, and the government's ineffectual warning system and inefficient response effort to the cyclone could sway angry voters to reject the charter.

Yangon, where officials said 59 died, was without electricity except where gas-fed generators were available. Residents lined up to buy candles at double last week's prices.

At Yangon's notorious Insein prison, 36 prisoners were killed and about 70 wounded when guards opened fire during moments of chaos when the storm hit Saturday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, based in Thailand.

Diplomats in Yangon gave a similar account, although a government official denied there were any deaths.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.