BANGKOK -- The death toll from a devastating cyclone in Myanmar could top 100,000 people, a U.S. diplomat said yesterday, as a million hungry and homeless survivors wait for help in the closed-off country.

Foreign diplomats here were told the international community has no option but to stand by and watch as "a major humanitarian crisis" unfolds.

Pressure mounted on Myanmar's military rulers to allow humanitarian access as witness reports told of entire villages destroyed.

"The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths," Shari Villarosa, the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, told reporters on a conference call from the capital, Yangon. She said the 100,000 figure was not confirmed, but was based on estimates by an international non-governmental organization, which she did not identify.

State Myanmar radio and television reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured.

The cyclone hit coastal towns and villages Saturday in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta southwest of Yangon.

At a United Nations briefing yesterday, diplomats heard there was some hope Myanmar's military leaders would soon open their doors to aid, but there was no way to pressure them.

Few in the international community are willing to talk about the Myanmar regime "on the record" for fear of upsetting negotiations to get aid flowing into the impoverished nation.

Officials called on Myanmar to waive visa and customs restrictions in order to get disaster relief to an estimated one million people affected by Cyclone Nargis.

There is a desperate need for food and clean water and the concern now is over diseases that could spread quickly in the hot, humid conditions.

Richard Horsey, spokesman for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said 5,000 square kilometres of the delta is under water.

"With all those dead mostly floating in the water at this point you can get some idea of the conditions facing the teams on the ground. It's a major logistical challenge," Horsey said.

While much is on hold, some international aid is trickling into Myanmar.

The Thai government was allowed to bring in a planeload of food, water and medicine. Yesterday, two planeloads of supplies from India and one from China arrived in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, carrying tents, food and blankets. Two Indian naval ships loaded with supplies are also on their way.

Another diplomat at the briefing suggested the junta leaders are so isolated in their new capital, Pyinmana -- 322 kilometres. north of Yangon and untouched by the cyclone -- that they were actually "indifferent" to the disaster.

That might explain why they are still determined to go ahead with a referendum on a new constitution set for this weekend.

They've admitted that it will have to be postponed in areas flattened by Nargis, but they still intend to hold the vote elsewhere.

Canwest News Service; Reuters - Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008