In Burma, at least 15,000 people are feared dead following a devastating cyclone. Another 30,000 people are still missing. Aid agencies estimate as many as one million people may be without shelter. The storm hit Burma on Friday night. For over ten hours, winds traveling up to 150 miles per hour struck Burma’s largest city, Rangoon. More than twenty inches of rain were dumped on the city. Satellite images from NASA show virtually the entire coastal plain of Burma under water. It was the largest cyclone to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people died in Bangladesh. On Monday, Burma’s military junta said it would allow some foreign aid groups to enter the country. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith offered assistance.

Stephen Smith: “Whilst we have very grave difficulties with the regime in Burma, we have over the period been continuing to render modest humanitarian assistance directly to the people of Burma. So we stand ready, willing and able to assist in conjunction with the United Nations and the relevant agencies.”