May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Emergency aid began arriving in Myanmar in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, as the United Nations said further delays to the relief effort may cause the estimated death toll of 100,000 people to rise.

Seven metric tons of high-energy biscuits were flown into the former capital, Yangon, today by the World Food Program, which said the military government was holding up three more flights. The UN refugee agency said trucks carrying 22 tons of aid were waiting at the border in northwest Thailand. The UN said one of its planes has landed in Myanmar as part of the first major international airlift, the Associated Press reported. Permission to send the planes came after a delay.

``Assistance is trickling in, but nowhere near the quantities needed immediately on the ground,'' WFP spokesman Paul Risley said by telephone from Bangkok.

The cyclone devastated the country's low-lying Irrawaddy delta region May 3, leaving more than 1 million people homeless, according to the UN. An estimated 80,000 people died in the delta's Labutta district alone, Agence France-Presse reported, citing local military official Tin Win.

Myanmar backtracked on allowing the U.S. to fly in relief, U.S. Ambassador to Thailand, Eric John, said at a news conference in Bangkok today.

``The decision was taken back by the Burmese,'' John said. ``It's still under consideration. We haven't got commission to go in yet,'' he said. ``As days go by, more life is being lost,'' he added. John said he was optimistic that the visas and permission for C-130 aircraft to fly in would be granted.

Myanmar Obstacles

The U.S. and the UN had complained that the government has been slow to allow international relief workers and supplies into the country formerly known as Burma.

`It's quite frustrating for us. People are suffering there. You have the tools at your fingertips, at the Burmese's fingertips, and they don't take the tools. That's incredible,'' John said.

``It's a disaster on a scale that the Burmese haven't experienced directly themselves, so they are not very well prepared to coordinate or manage the whole relief program,'' said Trevor Wilson, Australia's ambassador to Yangon from 2000 to 2003, in a telephone interview.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations said today it was trying to persuade Myanmar, a member of the group, to open its borders. ``All of us in Asean are trying to talk'' to the junta, Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told reporters in Jakarta. ``We expect to get permission and opening'' of borders for aid deliveries soon.

Climbing Death Toll

Myanmar's state television reported that about 22,000 people have died and more than 40,000 are missing. The toll may climb to 100,000 as more bodies are found in the delta area, Shari Villarosa, the U.S. charge d'affaires at the embassy in Yangon, said yesterday.

The UN estimated that 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 square miles) of the rice-growing delta region are under water. Aid agencies said survivors of the cyclone are at risk of cholera and other infectious diseases.

The World Health Organization said there are outbreaks of diarrhea-related disease and acute respiratory infections among children amid concerns about the lack of safe drinking water.

``The worse impact may still be in the days and weeks to come,'' in terms of disease and problems with aid delivery, European Commission spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said today. ``We cannot force the entry of humanitarian aid,'' he said during a news briefing in Brussels.

Myanmar had been expected to export 600,000 tons of rice this year, including to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. The Rome-based United Nations agency had forecast world exports at 29.9 million tons.

Rice Planting Season

``Time is running out to prepare for the main rice planting season, which starts in early June with the onset of the monsoon rains,'' said He Changchui, FAO's chief for Asia and the Pacific today in an e-mailed statement.

If Myanmar becomes a net importer it ``will seriously affect the prices of rice globally,'' Anthony Lam, regional general manager at Golden Resources Development International Ltd., said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong.

Thai military planes delivered aid to Myanmar yesterday, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said by telephone, without elaborating.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies plans to send a plane with 300 shelter kits from Kuala Lumpur today, spokesman John Sparrow said. The organization has another 20,000 kits in its warehouse in the Malaysian capital ready to send to Myanmar, he said.

Two naval ships have arrived in Yangon from India, the defense ministry said in an e-mailed statement. Materials have already been handed over to the Myanmar authorities, the ministry said. Two air force planes were also sent, state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported.

Flights carrying supplies are arriving in Yangon, Richard Horsey, United Nations disaster unit spokesman said in a telephone interview from Bangkok. ``That's not where the logistical bottleneck is right now. The bottleneck is really getting it from there out into the delta, to the affected areas,'' Horsey said.

Aid workers need trucks, cars, boats and helicopters to reach the flooded areas, he said. ``Obviously it's a huge logistical problem. There's no easy solution to this,'' Horsey said.

Aircraft Waiting

The seven tons of high-energy biscuits that arrived on a commercial flight from Thailand today are enough to feed a village of 2,000 people for a week, said Risley. Chartered planes loaded with a total of 38 tons of biscuits and other supplies are waiting on the tarmac in the United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh and Thailand for clearance from the junta.

``It is bad enough the government has continued to hold up the visas of humanitarian relief workers,'' Risley said. ``But now the government is holding up aid needed by hundreds of thousands of people.''

The UN refugee agency said it is ``working closely'' with the military government to get supplies, including plastic sheets and tents, to provide shelter for 10,000 people across the border from Thailand.

The U.S., which has offered at least $3.25 million in assistance, is still trying to persuade ``the very paranoid regime'' to allow aid deliveries, Villarosa said.

The U.K. pledged an immediate contribution of 5 million pounds ($9.79 million), U.K. International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said today in a televised parliament session. He hopes these funds will be allocated in the next couple of days, he said.

Chinese Aid

China today pledged an additional 30 million yuan ($4.3 million) in aid to Myanmar after pledging $1 million earlier this week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news conference in Beijing today. The first half of the $1 million in aid was delivered on May 7, and included tents, food and medicine.

``So long as the Myanmar government agrees, we are ready to take part,'' Qin said.

Myanmar, a nation of 47.8 million people, has been under international sanctions since the military rejected the results of elections in 1990, won by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

The Bush administration imposed new restrictions, freezing the assets of officials and blacklisting companies linked to the junta, after the military crushed anti-government demonstrations last September and killed at least 31 people, according to the UN.

Referendum Plan

The junta plans to press ahead with a referendum May 10 for a new constitution before elections in 2010. The ballot will be delayed until May 24 in the worst-affected areas.

The U.S. has said the vote won't be free or fair and will only prolong the reign of the military that has ruled the Southeast Asian nation since 1962.

It will be logistically impossible to hold the vote, said Robert Broadfoot, Hong Kong-based managing director of Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd.

``If they cannot get the relief in, how are they going to get the votes out? They are still counting bodies, not ballot boxes,'' Broadfoot said in a telephone interview. ``Could the U.S. have held an election in New Orleans three weeks after Katrina?''

To contact the reporters on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net; Demian McLean in Washington at dmclean8@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 8, 2008 08:43 EDT