(May 4, 2008)--Myanmar's state-run media is reporting that more than 350 people have died after a powerful cyclone hit the Asian country's southwest coast.
The military-run television station says five regions have been declared disaster zones after the storm swamped low-lying areas in the Irrawaddy river delta.
A U.N. humanitarian official in the capital says the government has told him that thousands of homes have been destroyed, but details of the damage have been difficult to get after the storm's 120-mile-per-hour winds downed phone lines and roads to the region became clogged with debris.
Dissident groups and diplomats are expressing concern that the hard-line generals who run the country might be reluctant to ask for outside help in dealing with the disaster.
One Western diplomat says: "we have to be welcomed by the host government."
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