NASA has posted these shots of the Burma/Myanmar coast before and after Monday’s cyclone.

From NASA:

“The entire coastal plain is flooded in the May 5 image. The fallow agricultural areas appear to have been especially hard hit. For example, Yangôn (population over 4 million) is almost completely surrounded by floods. Several large cities (population 100,000–500,000) are in the affected area. Muddy runoff colors the Gulf of Martaban turquoise.”

From the AFP:

Around 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square miles) remain underwater, and more than a million homeless need emergency relief, a UN spokesman said.

“The bottle-neck (in aid) is getting it out in the delta. That needs boats, helicopters, trucks,” said Richard Horsey, a Bangkok-based spokesman with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs…

Food prices in Myanmar, already one of the most impoverished nations in the world, have soared. A bag of rice now costs 40,000 kyats (35 dollars) in the commercial hub Yangon, up from 25,000 last week.

Frustrated aid agencies said they are still being denied permission to enter Myanmar and use their experience and expertise to ensure the right aid gets to the neediest places as soon as possible.”

-Virginia Simmons