Burma has received only 56% of funds: UN

NineMSN

The UN set a goal of $US201.6 million ($A212.91 million) for its relief efforts but so far has received only $US113.2 million ($A119.55 million), or 56 per cent, from government donors, it says.

An additional $US51 million ($A53.86 million) in pledges has not yet been delivered, the UN said.

Funding shortfalls were particularly great for emergency food operations and education, it said.

"Funding is clearly not coming in at the rate we would hope," said Amanda Pitt, a spokeswoman for the UN relief operations. "Funding is urgently needed to sustain the pipeline for food and assistance."

Pitt said the UN hopes that funding will increase after a comprehensive assessment of the needs of the estimated 2.4 million survivors of the May 2-3 cyclone is finished by June 20.

About 250 experts from the UN, Burma's government and Southeast Asian nations headed into the Irrawaddy delta on Tuesday for the survey of 6,000 hard-hit villages. They will determine the food, water and shelter needs of the survivors, along with the cost of rebuilding houses and schools and reviving the farm-based economy.

The UN estimates that more than one million survivors, mostly in the delta, still need help more than five weeks after the cyclone struck. Cyclone Nargis killed more than 78,000 people in impoverished Burma and left another 56,000 people missing, according to the government.

Burma's military regime has asked for $US10.7 billion ($A11.3 billion) in foreign funds for relief and reconstruction.

Aid donors representing dozens of countries and regional organisations met late last month in Rangoon and agreed to provide some cyclone aid, but warned the military junta they would not fully open their wallets until aid workers are provided access to the hardest-hit areas.

The junta has since promised to allow international aid workers into the delta, but access to the area remains difficult.

Aid agencies say a new set of government guidelines introduced Tuesday for relief operations could further complicate and delay recovery efforts.

The guidelines, distributed by the government at a meeting of UN agencies and private humanitarian organisations, require repeated contacts with national and local government agencies and large amounts of paperwork.