India alerted Myanmar 36 hrs before Nargis struck

GRIM WARNING: India's Met Deptt sent regular updates about Nargis' progress to all the countries on its path.

Other stories in the section:

Indian team of armed medical personnel land in Yangon

The team is expected to be deployed in the cyclone hit Irrawaddy delta.

• Cyclone-hit Myanmar restricts international aid
• Freak storm in summer kills 100 in N India
• Embassy blast work of foreign spy agency: Afghanistan
• G8 leaders agree to halve emissions by 2050

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• Indian team of armed medical personnel land in Yangon
• Cyclone-hit Myanmar restricts international aid
• Freak storm in summer kills 100 in N India
• Embassy blast work of foreign spy agency: Afghanistan
• G8 leaders agree to halve emissions by 2050

Keywords: cyclone nargis, myanmar

"We are shocked by the government's response," Khalilzad said. "It's a no-brainer."

Holmes said that Thursday there were between 75 and 80 international staff on the ground in Myanmar and about 1,500 Myanmar nationals involved in the international relief aid.

He said a group of four international staff arrived in Yangon Thursday, two with Asian passports were admitted while the other two, bearing UN passports known as laisser-passer, were not. The laisser- passer documents are usually accepted by other governments to allow UN employees to work in their countries.

Holmes described the military government in Myanmar as an "isolated and suspicious regime," that has so far failed to welcome outside help to the worsening humanitarian conditions created by the cyclone that hit a wide part of the country's delta, killing more than 23,000 people.

The UN, which cannot independently verify the number of casualties, has had to rely on Yangon's information. Yangon Thursday downgraded the figures of missing people to 22,000 from more than 40,000 and the number of provinces affected by the cyclone from five to two.

Despite the negative aspects of the international relief operations, some planes did get in carrying 40 tonnes of high energy biscuits for the survivors of the cyclone. The UN said talks have been underway with Myanmar officials about whether the government or non-governmental organizations should be responsible for the distribution of the relief aid.