The C-130 transport plane that left the Vietnam War-era U-Tapao airbase was carrying water, mosquito nets and blankets. U.S. aid officials hope it will pave the way for much larger U.S. operations in the army-ruled Burma.
"This is Burma's hour of need and the need is urgent," U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Henrietta Fore said before boarding the plane with a Thai-U.S. delegation for the short flight to the cyclone-hit city of Yangon.
Admiral Timothy Keating, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, is also on the plane, which is landing in the midst of a massive humanitarian disaster that could get much worse unless the military government approves a large-scale international aid effort within days.
Agencies report that deliveries to more than a million increasingly desperate cyclone victims has been minimal.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Sunday three cargo planes from Europe carrying medical material and other supplies were scheduled to arrive in Burma on Monday.
"More than one week after the disaster, despite the sending of three cargo planes and some positive signals, it has been very difficult to provide highly needed supplies for the heavily affected population in Burma," MSF said in a statement.
"In the areas where we have been, we haven't seen any aid being delivered so far, so the amount that has reached people in the areas where we are had been minimal," MSF said
MSF had a large presence in Burma before the cyclone. Aid agencies that did not are having even greater difficulties.
220,000 REPORTED MISSING
While Burma's reclusive military government is accepting aid from the outside world, including the United Nations, it will not let in foreign logistics teams, who were queuing up in Bangkok hoping to get visas from the Burma embassy.
The U.N. humanitarian agency said in a new assessment on Sunday that between 1.2 million and 1.9 million were struggling to survive in the aftermath of the storm.
"Given the gravity of the situation including the lack of food and water, some partners have reported fears for security, and violent behaviour in the most severely afflicted areas," the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
