Cyclone victims face 'long-term' food shortages

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Myanmar's rice-growing heartland has been devastated by Cyclone Nargis, threatening long-term food shortages for survivors, experts said Wednesday.

The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that five states hit hardest by Saturday's cyclone produce 65 percent of the country's rice, The Associated Press reported.

The region was also home to 80 percent of its aquaculture, 50 percent of its poultry and 40 percent of its pig production, the FAO said.

Rice is the most important staple in the impoverished country, which has produced enough to feed itself and, more recently, stave off rising prices.

"There is likely going to be incredible shortages in the next 18 to 24 months," Sean Turnell, an economist specializing in Myanmar at Australia's Macquarie University told AP. "Things will be tough."

The U.N. World Food Program, which has started feeding the estimated one million homeless, said there were immediate concerns about salvaging harvested rice in the flooded Irrawaddy delta, known as the country's rice bowl. Watch Rivers' report from Bogalay »

The cyclone, which battered the country last weekend with winds of 240 km/hr(150 mph) and 3.5 meter (11.48 feet) storm water surges, killed more than 22,000. Another 41,000 people are still missing, according to state-run media outlets in Myanmar, and the U.N. estimates one million could be homeless.

Harrowing details have started to emerge, with one woman describing to the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates -- a wall of water jumping from the Gulf of Mottama into the delta areas.

CNN obtained the video in which the survivor said she walked a trail dotted by dead bodies to get to safety, passing a group of about 1,000 homeless people who slept on the street. See photos of the destruction »

"Yes, there is tide coming along. Trees fall over people," the survivor said. "There are many dead bodies lying under trees. Yes, all people I saw are crying too much and searching for bodies of loved ones. There is bad smell from dead bodies on the way we came from."

The woman said she lived in the village of Dadaye near the gulf in southern Myanmar, which was in the path of the storm. She said that as she fled, she passed a village where only six people survived.

"We found about 40 dead bodies on this way," the woman said. "Everywhere ... in the bushes like this, and in the streams like this. Everywhere."

CNN's Dan Rivers, the first Western journalist into the devastated town of Bogalay, reported seeing bodies being thrown into rivers by survivors in desperate need of help. An iReporter documents the destruction »

Rivers said Tuesday that survivors had only small amounts of eggs and rice. The area's rice mills were destroyed, leaving Bogalay with a five-day supply. Water pumps were also ruined, and fuel was scarce.

He reported destroyed homes along 30-kilometer stretches. In one area, only four homes remained from a total of 369. People were taking shelter under canvas sheets, and the weather remained awful.

The aftermath has pushed Myanmar's normally secretive ruling military junta to ask for aid and release details of the devastation.

The U.N. World Food Programme said it had begun distributing food in areas of Yangon and was preparing to send emergency supplies from across Asia.

President Bush called on the military junta Tuesday to allow the U.S. to help with disaster assistance. Watch the cyclone's destruction »

Bush, who made the comments while signing legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, said the U.S. was ready to "come and help."

"The United States has made an initial aid contribution, but we want to do a lot more," Bush said.

"We are prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing and help stabilize the situation."

Based on a satellite map made available by the U.N., the storm's damage was concentrated over about a 30,000-square-kilometer area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines, home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's 57 million people. Watch as some aid arrives in Myanmar »

The country's state radio said Saturday's vote on a military-backed draft constitution would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta, AP reported.

The constitutional referendum is referred to in the state-run media as the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy."

Myanmar, formally known as Burma, last held multiparty elections in 1990, when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Learn more about Myanmar »

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