A number of ministries, including Christian Aid, World Vision, Tearfund and Barnabas Fund have launched emergency appeals to assess the extent of the damage on the ground and bring immediate relief to the survivors.
The Methodist Church and the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) have also launched an emergency appeal for funds.
Michael King, the Methodist Church's World Church Team Leader, said, "The cyclone has created a humanitarian emergency that is unprecedented in Burma's history. Hundreds of thousands of people are cut off from clean water and shelter, and prices for basic foodstuffs are escalating. We are asking people to offer whatever support they can, both financially and through their prayers."
The Church sent an immediate solidarity grant of £10,000 to the Methodist Church in Myanmar and has launched a joint appeal with MRDF.
Burma's military government has come under pressure from the US to open its borders so that it can receive more help from the international community. US military aid flights have so far been delayed whilst Washington awaits approval from Burma.
Witnesses on the ground, meanwhile, say that there is little evidence of relief in the delta.
"We'll starve to death, if nothing is sent to us," said Zaw Win, a 32-year-old fisherman who waded through floating corpses to find a boat that would take him to Bogalay two hours away.
"We need food, water, clothes and shelter," he told a Reuters reporter. "We'll starve to death if nothing is sent to us."
Caritas Internationalis is currently coordinating the relief efforts of its 162-strong network of Catholic aid agencies. Caritas Emergency Response Team Leader Dolores Halpin-Bachmann said that the Burmese junta needs to ease access for aid workers if more people are to be saved.
"There is an urgent need for access to aid workers to the affected areas so that we can assess the damage, start to provide food, shelter, clean water, and medical assistance," she said. "Myanmar (Burma) is a poor country and will most likely need international help to respond to a disaster on this scale. The government must do all it can to help aid workers respond."
Christians make up only 4 per cent of the population in largely Buddhist Burma and face, alongside other religious and ethnic minorities, fierce persecution from the country's repressive military junta.
"As we pray for all the people of Burma at this time of crisis, let us especially remember our Christian brothers and sisters," says Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund. "They have endured many years of persecution, faithfully and courageously. Pray that as this further trial comes upon them, they will be given great grace."
