New Delhi - Nearly a week after Cyclone Nargis, aid has started to trickle into Burma but has yet to reach the most devastated areas of the Irrawaddy Delta.

"Many of my friends are starving, with no food and water supplies," a survivor of the cyclone from Laputta Township, on the Bay of Bengal, told Mizzima.

He said several of the survivors have fled to Laputta Town, where they have sought shelter in public schools and monasteries. He later fled to Rangoon to ask for help from his friends.

The survivor said rescue and recovery of bodies was being conducted by local villagers who survived the storm. But the majority of dead bodies have yet to be recovered and many have begun to float on the flood waters, which have inundated vast portions of the rural areas of the township, he added.

"Today we conducted the funeral service for my friend's families, though we have not found their bodies. I don't think we could find them now," added the survivor, who does not want to be named.

He was among the lucky ones in Laputta, as his entire family also survived.

When the storm came, most of the villagers, who are used to coastal storms, did not believe it would be so big.

"The storm just came without even giving any time for us to run," he narrated.

Most of the villages in the rural areas of the township were washed away by the storm and many people are missing, he said. It was not clear how many villages there were in the region, but estimates range from two dozen to more than 50.

"In our neighboring village there were only about 200 people left out of nearly 5,000 people," he said.

Most of the people in his village, he said, survived the storm.

Because the cyclone devastated homes and destroyed water wells, villagers start moving to nearby towns, including Laputta and Myaung Mya, he said.

"There were dead bodies falling in our well, so we could no longer use the water. But we had no other water supply so we moved to Laputta," he added.

With lines of communications severely damaged and a slow response from the Burmese government to let in aid agencies, several aid groups are unable to assess the devastation and the amount of aid that is required.

"We are still in the process of conducting a needs assessment in the Irrawaddy Delta, and have not yet begun distribution," said a Burmese aid worker, who asked not to be named.

The aid worker said the government has forbidden international staff to visit places in the Irrawaddy Division, which has slowed down the process of aid distribution.

"Only national staff are allowed to go to the Irrawaddy Delta," said the aid worker, who has just returned from the Irrawaddy region.

Meanwhile, aid from several countries began to arrive yesterday. India's two naval ships and two aircraft fighters arrived in Rangoon and delivered medicine, food, tents and clothes.

On Thursday, more aid from the UN and WFP arrived in Rangoon and from countries including Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Italy and Taiwan.

The aid worker said that although aid distribution began in parts of Rangoon division, including Kwun Gyan Kone, about 40 miles southwest of the former capital, it has not been reaching the Irrawaddy Delta.

Paul Risley, spokesperson of the World Food Programme, said the agency will begin distributing seven tons of high-energy biscuit that arrived today.