YANGON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- A total of 9,330 cyclone victims have been accommodated in 32 relief camps opened in three areas for homeless survivors in southwestern Ayeyawaddy division severely hit by cyclone Nargis on May 2 and 3, official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported on Monday.
The three lesser-hit areas where relief camps were set up for victims to be evacuated from the hardest-hit townships are Maubin, Wakema and Myaungmya.
Relief supplies from home and abroad are being delivered to the areas by trucks, helicopters and vessels, the report said.
Supplies were airdropped to some flooded areas where helicopter could not touch down, it said.
Rescue operations are underway to search for the missing people in the division with health staff going right down to the villages to provide healthcare for the survivors, said the report.
Meanwhile, Myanmar Minister of National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha told resident representatives of the United Nations agencies, foreign social organizations and international non-governmental organizations that aid from any nation is accepted and delivery of relief goods can be handled by local organizations and people working in international organizations in cooperation with the government departments concerned but not in individual.
He made clear that foreigners are prohibited from entering the disaster-hit areas.
Myanmar has said the best way to help Myanmar is to send in material rather than personnel, clarifying that the country is not yet ready to receive search and rescue teams as well as media personnel.
The deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, severely hit five divisions and states -- Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Kayin and Mon, covering such coastal towns in southwestern Ayeyawaddy division as Haing Gyi Island, Pathein, Myaungmya, Laputta, Mawlamyinegyun, Kyaiklat, Phyarpon and Bogalay, and the biggest city of Yangon and inflicted the heaviest ever casualties and infrastructural damage.
According to an official updated death toll Sunday, a total of 28,485 people have been killed by the cyclone and 33,416 people are still missing.