Myanmar will accept aid 'from any quarter': diplomat

UNITED NATIONS: Myanmar will accept aid "from any quarter," the military-ruled country's ambassador to the United Nations said Friday amid criticism over its response to last week's cyclone disaster.

"Myanmar intends to cooperate with the international community to address this great challenge" and will accept aid "from any quarter," said UN Ambassador Kyaw Tint Swe.

"We urgently need medical supplies, food, clothing, electricity generators and material for emergency shelter as well as financial assistance," the ambassador said.

"We are most thankful to the international community, our friends near and far for the solidarity and generosity."

The diplomat said that two ships and 11 planes carrying relief aid had so far arrived in Myanmar, as the United Nations struggled to coordinate with military rulers in order to distribute aid to the needy.

A massive cyclone Saturday ravaged the southern parts of the country, killed as many as 100,000 people according to US estimates and sparked fears of disease outbreaks and starvation.

The United Nations has appealed for 187 million dollars in international funds to help the more than 1.5 million people left homeless by the cyclone over the coming six months.

But despite days of increasingly exasperated requests from world leaders, the secretive military regime has only grudgingly begun allowing in aid and rescue workers in dribs and drabs.

The latest official death toll is almost 23,000 dead, with 42,000 missing.