New Delhi - The United Nations humanitarian chief, John Holmes, on Wednesday said he will visit cyclone-hit Burma again next week to reassess the relief and rehabilitation situation.

The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, said he will travel to the Irrawaddy delta, the worst hit by the cyclone, which left more than 138,000 dead and missing.

"It is essentially to reassess the situation there for myself. I will be going to the Irrawaddy delta but I do not know exactly where I will be going once there," Holmes reportedly told a news conference in New York on Wednesday.

Before proceeding to military-ruled Burma, Holmes said he will first travel to Singapore to participate in the July 21 launch of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment with the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Holmes' visit next week will be the second since Cyclone Nargis struck Burma leaving more than 2.4 million people devastated.

Holmes, who is currently the highest-ranking UN official in charge of humanitarian work in Burma, said during his visit he will meet key government officials as well as humanitarian functionaries.

While Holmes is expected to meet Burmese government officials such as the Prime Minister Thein Sein, a local aid worker said the UN humanitarian chief should also meet private donors and volunteers for a better understanding of the ground situation.

"He [Holmes] needs to meet and discuss with private Burmese volunteers and donors, who have been involved in relief work since the day the cyclone struck," a local volunteer in Irrawaddy Division's Bogale town said.

The volunteer, who has been distributing aid and helping cyclone survivors in Bogale Township, said the ground situation could be very different from what people see.

"There are several villages which have not been accessed and several people are still in need of adequate aid. It will be totally out of context to call the emergency relief phase over," said the volunteer, adding that these pictures could only be presented to the UN humanitarian chief by aid workers, volunteers and private donors.

"We hope he [Holmes] will review the situation of the people who are still struggling to receive aid," the volunteer said.