Burma's government says the death toll from Saturday's cyclone and surge has reached nearly 22,500 people. Aid agencies say they are struggling to reach the hundreds of thousands of people in need after the disaster. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from our Southeast Asia Bureau in Bangkok.

In this photo released by the Democratic Voice of Burma, residents of Yangon look for water following Cyclone Nargis, 06 May 2008

A few hours before a cargo airplane loaded with enriched biscuits was to land in Burma's main city, Rangoon, Burmese authorities had yet to grant permission for the food to be unloaded and distributed. The World Food Program's Paul Risley tells VOA the scale of the disaster - especially in Burma's low-lying Irawaddy Delta region - is slowly becoming known and the news is getting grimmer by the hour.

"The initial reports from our assessment teams in the Delta region are truly, truly staggering," said Risley. "It would appear that hundreds of thousands of people - if not more - lost their homes entirely due to the devastation of this cyclone."

The WFP and other international aid agencies are still waiting for visas from Burma's military government, which has offered assurances that it will grant access to assessment teams in the tightly controlled country.