The deadly cyclone that ripped into Burma over the weekend could shake the stranglehold on power of the country's ruling generals, becoming a force for change more powerful than massive pro-democracy demonstrations and international sanctions. Natural disasters by themselves are unlikely to trigger change, but instead tend to help undermine already corrupt or failing systems.

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A cyclone with winds up to 120 mph. A low-lying, densely populated delta region, stripped of its protective trees. When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta and pushed a wall of water 25 miles inland, it had all the makings of a massive disaster. ''When we saw the (storm) track, I said, 'Uh oh, this is not going to be good,'' said Mark Lander, a meteorology professor at the University of Guam. ''It would create a big storm surge. It was like Katrina going into New Orleans.''

Out Of 2 Lakh Population, 10,000 Killed Yangon: The cyclone that hit Myanmar at the weekend destroyed 95% of the homes in the city of Bogalay, where more than 10,000 people died, the minister for social welfare told reporters on Tuesday. Most of the 1,90,000 residents of Bogalay were homeless after the storm swept through the Irrawaddy river delta in the early hours of Saturday, Maung Maung Swe told a press conference.

Burma's state media on Tuesday urged people to take precautions against disease in regions hit by tropical Cyclone Nargis. The cyclone tore through south-western Burma at the weekend, devastating the Irrawaddy Delta region and hammering the nation's main city of Rangoon. Many of the city's six million people were spending a fourth day on Tuesday without water or electricity, as trash and debris piled on the sidewalks. State radio urged people to safeguard their health and "to drink boiled water and keep pests out of food."

Burma's military government raised its death toll from cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to nearly 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, nearly all of them from a massive storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta. The United Nations' World Food Programme began doling out emergency rice in Rangoon and the first batch of more than $10 million worth of foreign aid arrived from Thailand on Tuesday, but a lack of specialised equipment slowed distribution.

India is despatching more assistance to cyclonehit Myanmar in the form of two AN-32 aircraft carrying relief and medical supplies. India had earlier sent two ships carrying food and other relief items to Yangon on Monday. The ministry of external affairs said on Tuesday that all possible help has been offered to the country which was hit by cyclone

Neither the west nor the junta should play politics.

Myanmar's government raised its death toll from Cyclone Nargis on Tuesday to nearly 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, nearly all of them from a storm surge that swept into the Irrawaddy delta. Of the dead, only 671 were in the former capital, Yangon, and its outlying districts, state radio said. The rest were in the vast swamplands of the delta.

The White House said Tuesday the U.S. will send more than $3 million to help victims of the devastating cyclone in Myanmar, up from an initial emergency contribution of $250,000. The additional commitment of funds, announced by press secretary Dana Perino, comes as Myanmar continues to resist entry for a U.S. disaster assessment team. The Bush administration insists that permission for such a team to enter the Southeast Asian nation and look at the damage would allow quicker and larger aid contributions.