Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) are raising concerns about the delay aid agencies are facing in Burma to access those hardest hit by the weekend's cyclone.
More than 350 people have been killed and many towns and villages are yet to report on their damage.
United Nations aid workers in Burma say they are ready to send help to those hardest hit by the cyclone as soon as authorities there give the go-ahead.
A spokesman for Burma Campaign Australia, Winthura Wynn, says he is concerned Burmese authorities are yet to give permission to organisations such as the United Nations.
"Right now this is a critical life and death situation as the people in Burma face this cyclone," he said.
"I really wish this foreign relief agency to get through for their causes."
Catastrophe
The regional head of the UN office for co-ordinating humanitarian affairs, Terje Skavdal, has described the aftermath of the cyclone as a catastrophe.
"Practically all the roads are blocked more or less because of the trees that have blown down," he said.
"The city has great damage on telephone nets, on the electrical net, lots of damages to housing and to public buildings."
Aung Din, from the US Campaign for Burma, has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program that the cyclone has left Rangoon without transport, water or communications.
"The most part of the city of Rangoon are now damaged, and at least part of the houses are destroyed, and the rest are without roofs," he said.
"This is really a war zone and great devastation ... done by mother nature."
Australians safe
Meanwhile, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it has no reports of Australians being injured in the cyclone in Burma.
A Department spokeswoman says 132 Australians in Burma have registered with the embassy but the actual number in the country is probably higher.
She says all embassy staff and their families are safe and they have been able to confirm the safety of a number of Australians.
- ABC/BBC
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