stupidity continues.

Conditions in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis are growing more desperate, according to sources inside the country. The official government news agency has raised the death toll sharply, saying 78,000 are dead and 56,000 missing. Other sources place those numbers even higher, however, with the Red Cross setting the death toll at 128,000 and British officials sayingit may already have surpassed 200,000.

An estimated 2.5 million people are struggling to survive in the delta, and heavy seasonal rains are hampering relief efforts. The military government still refuses to admit large-scale outside relief, and relief organizations believe the body count could still rise dramatically. Reports are filtering out of desperate survivors mobbing aid shipments.

Visas for relief workers are still hard to come by, says Jeff Palmer, BGR executive director, and humanitarian organizations are exploring informal networks for getting relief into the country.

"Our Oklahoma team in Bangkok is designing disaster response and water purification modules to train Burmese nationals who will be taking the information and skills back with them," Palmer said. "We have opened a number of ‘fronts' for funneling aid materials into the most needed areas."

Details about the informal channels into the country cannot be shared publically because of the danger they would be shut down as a result, Palmer added.

"We have some in-country, on-ground resources helping with initial relief efforts and feeding us information," he noted. "They are helping us make more contacts and establish other channels for more aid to go in."