Myanmar declares disaster after killer cyclone

Yangon: A powerful cyclone killed more than 350 people, destroyed thousands of homes and knocked out power in the country's largest city, state-run media said on Sunday.

Five regions of the impoverished Southeast Asian country have been declared disaster zones following Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which struck early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph, the military-run Myaddy television station said.

It said at least 351 people were killed, including 109 who lived on Haing Gyi island off the country's southwest coast. Many of the others died in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta.

In the Irrawaddy's Labutta township, 75 percent of the buildings had collapsed, state television said.

"The Irrawaddy delta was hit extremely hard not only because of the wind and rain but because of the storm surge," said Chris Kaye, the UN's acting humanitarian coordinator in Yangon. "The villages there have reportedly been completely flattened."

The UN planned to send teams Monday to assess the damage, he said. Initial assessment efforts have been hampered by roads clogged with debris and downed phone lines, he said.

"At the moment, we have such poor opportunity for communications that I can't really tell you very much," Kaye said.

Witnesses in Yangon said the storm's 120 mph winds blew the roofs off hundreds of houses, damaged hotels, schools and hospitals, and cut electricity to the entire city. The state-owned newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday that the international airport in Yangon remained shut.

An official at Yangon International Airport said all incoming flights had been diverted to the second city of Mandalay and all departures from Yangon had been cancelled.

Yangon was still without power and water on Sunday. Officials said it could be days before transportation and power services are restored.