Myanmar says no need for foreign aid distribution

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No soldiers or government agencies have turned up to help.

"We have to get shelter. We have to get shelter," said San Myint. She and her brother have been sawing and hammering since dawn to repair their shattered home. "The mosquitoes are eating us at night," she says. "But we were lucky. We survived."

The official death toll still stands at nearly 23,000, although experts fear it could be as high as 100,000.

PATRIOTIC REFERENDUM

Myanmar's junta urged citizens on Friday to do their patriotic duty and vote for an army-drafted constitution in a televised message that made mo mention of the estimated 1.5 million people clinging to survival a week after the cyclone.

The junta is holding a referendum on the constitution on Saturday in all but the worst-affected parts of the country. Its opponents have suggested the delays in allowing in aid workers are because it does not want an influx of foreigners before the vote.

Thailand's prime minister Samak Sundaravej announced on Friday he would fly to Myanmar this weekend after British and American envoys urged him to ask the ruling generals to open the door to Western aid.

"I have already contacted them. I will see them on Sunday," Samak told reporters after meeting British Ambassador Quinton Quayle in Bangkok.

The U.S. Navy said four ships, including the destroyer USS Mustin and the three-vessel Essex Expeditionary Strike Force, were heading for Myanmar from the Gulf of Thailand after the Essex deployed helicopters to Thailand for aid operations.

The United States, however, was waiting for approval to start shipping in aid on military planes.

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