New storm to hamper aid effort in Myanmar: Red Cross

By Nopporn Wong-Anan

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) said on Thursday it was worried a new storm moving toward cyclone-stricken Myanmar will hamper relief efforts to hundreds of thousands of survivors.

A Bangkok-based U.N. weather expert said the storm, which could hit Mynamar on Friday at the earliest, was a "normal small low pressure" event that would last a couple of days.

However. IFRC spokesman Joe Lowry told Bangkok-based journalists: "If the second strong storm does hit them, it is the worst possible scenario imagined."

"It will affect more people, it will bring more water to it, an area that is already saturated. It won't run off quickly. There is potential of outbreak of disease," Lowry said after returning from Yangon.

Heavy rain would make transportation of relief supplies by road, foot and boat more difficult and prompt survivors to move to more distant dry areas, making it harder for aid workers to track them down and give them what they need, Lowry said.

Nearly two weeks after Cyclone Nargis tore through the heavily populated Irrawaddy delta rice bowl, leaving up to 128,000 people dead, supplies of food, medicine and temporary shelter have been sent in dribs and drabs to devastated areas.

Monasteries and schools are sheltering the homeless and refugees are clamoring to get into the privately run centers rather than government-run camps after the cyclone left an estimated 2.5 million people destitute.

While some experts have expressed doubts about Myanmar's ability to handle the disaster without massive help from abroad, the IFRC said Myanmar's Red Cross was working around the clock to help their people.