The top United Nations humanitarian official said today that he is prepared to provide a grant from the Central Emergency Response Fund to help those affected by the deadly cyclone that devastated southeast Myanmar, formerly called Burma, on the weekend.

Cyclone Nargis, a category 3 storm which made landfall in the Irrawaddy delta region on Friday night, has claimed up to 100,000 lives, according to the latest reports.

With winds of over 190 kilometers per hour (118 mph), the storm hit the Myanmar capital of Yangon later that night, toppling trees and power lines. Widespread flooding has closed roads, downed communications, and damaged electricity and water supplies.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 41,000 people are missing, hundreds of thousands have been left without shelter, and close to one million people are affected by the storm. The death toll is expected to rise as emergency teams reach more remote areas hit by the storm.

"The Government of Myanmar has indicated that they are open to international assistance," said John Holmes, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. A military regime governs the country formerly known as Burma.

"We appreciate the government's announcement that it is making available approximately $5 million from its own resources for emergency relief, and I am ready to allocate a significant amount from the Central Emergency Response Fund as the most urgent needs become clear," Holmes said.

An initial emergency operation, launched today and valued at US$500,000, will fund immediate airlifts of food aid and cover initial emergency response staff deployments in Myanmar.

Myanmar authorities have declared five regions - Yangon, Ayeyarwwady, Bago, Mon and Kayin - disaster areas. The population of the declared disaster areas is estimated at 24 million, with an estimated six million in Yangon.

Lack of communications has made it difficult to determine the extent of the casualties and damage. A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is being dispatched to Myanmar and is expected to begin work shortly.

UN agencies have begun working to address the situation. Distribution of relief supplies will be coordinated through a Disaster Management Committee that had been established by the Myanmar government.

Teams from Medecins Sans Frontieres, a UN World Food Programme partner, have started a first emergency response in Yangon, distributing 30 metric tonnes of food, plastic sheeting and water chlorination supplies.

In Daala and Twante, two townships with a total population of 300,000, MSF teams saw 80 percent destruction of houses in certain pockets and flood waters standing one meter (39 inches) high. "Under these circumstances," the doctors' group said, "infectious diseases such as cholera can spread easily."

The UN World Food Programme, WFP, is ramping up efforts to respond to the humanitarian needs in the southern coastal regions of Myanmar as well as Yangon. Early reports indicate tremendous storm damage to villages and communities in the rice-cultivating areas of the coastal region. Prices of basic foods such as rice, have already doubled since the storm.

"Although we do not know the full extent of damage and needs, we know they are large," said WFP Asia Regional Director Tony Banbury.

Families whose houses have been destroyed are crowding into public structures that resisted the cyclone, such as pagodas and schools.

"So far, the government has provided some valuable cooperation," said Chris Kaye, WFP country director. "In order to meet the needs of the persons most badly affected by the disaster, much more cooperation will be required in the short term."

Calling the relief effort an "enormous logistics challenge," Kaye said truckloads of WFP food will be dispatched tomorrow to Labutta Township, an area hardest hit by the cyclone in the Ayeryarwaddy Delta region. In some affected villages along the Irrawaddy river delta, 95 percent of houses have been destroyed.

In neighboring Thailand, the UN refugee agency is emptying its emergency shelter material stockpiles of plastic sheeting and tents for some 10,000 people for urgent dispatch to Yangon.

Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told journalists in Geneva that the agency's office in Myanmar Monday purchased $50,000 worth of basic supplies in Yangon for distribution, including emergency tarpaulins, plastic sheeting and canned food.

Relief workers are relying on helicopters to distribute supplies but this is proving slow and relatively inefficient, according to the World Health Organization, WHO. Clearing roads is a high priority in order to move supplies urgently to the population in need.

Survivors share relief supplies of drinking water. WHO, with the support of the Italian government, is dispatching emergency health supplies to cover the basic health needs of 240,000 people for one month. Chlorine powder, essential medicines, cholera kits, malaria drugs, impregnated bed nets, supplies for the management of dead bodies, and water purification units for hospitals and clinics are urgently needed.