Cyclone destroyed 95 percent of Myanmar city: minister

TERRA.WIRE

Cyclone destroyed 95 percent of Myanmar city: minister
YANGON, May 6 (AFP) May 06, 2008
The cyclone that hit Myanmar at the weekend destroyed 95 percent of the homes in the city of Bogalay, where more than 10,000 people died, the minister for social welfare told reporters Tuesday.

Most of the 190,000 residents of Bogalay were homeless after the storm swept through the Irrawaddy river delta in the early hours of Saturday, Maung Maung Swe told a press conference.

"Ninety-five percent of the houses in Bogalay were destroyed," he said, adding that most of the damage was caused by the 3.6 metre storm surge that accompanied the cyclone.

"Many people were killed in a 12-foot tidal wave," he said.

Bogalay sits in the heart of the Irrawaddy delta, which suffered the brunt of the storm's fury when it ploughed ashore.

The delta is a vast marshland where the Irrawaddy breaks into dozens of small rivers that makes transport difficult even during normal times.

The region is the country's main rice-producing region. The UN's World Food Programme warned Tuesday that the damage to the paddies means the region that normally feeds the rest of the country could find itself in need of major food aid.