May 4, 2008 (DVB)-Deadly cyclone Nargis washed away some whole towns in the Irrawaddy delta region of Burma on Saturday as the death toll continued to rise, according to wire news sources and government announcements.

It is still difficult to get independent accounts on the scale of human casualties and damage outside Rangoon.

Rangoon residents told DVB that houses from sketchy satellite towns to buildings in downtown Rangoon were severely damaged.

Resident 1

As for the damages; Shwe Pauk is gone, North Dagon, Shwepyithar, all the new towns are gone. There is huge damage. All the new towns are gone. As for the cinema halls, their roofs have been blown off. Not only were the rooftops upturned, but people have nowhere to live. So what is happening is, even for the people to go there (for shelter) they have nothing to eat now.

Resident 2

We live near Yuzana Plaza. The sheets of glass on the shop fronts were all shattered. It is said that Yazana Plaza is temporarily closed. It happened to the whole town, the whole town is affected. All the trees have been uprooted. All the big trees have fallen. The situation at Inya area and other places is the same. At the airport, the trees have mostly been toppled. They say that power lines are also uprooted. There are also big trees around Kandawgyi and they all fell and you could do nothing. Now they say they are closing all the big pagodas in Rangoon.

Resident 3

In Hlaing Thayar (Township), most areas were affected, almost the whole town. The whole town was affected. No place escaped. It started around 10 (pm), both the wind and rains started. It only abated only in the morning, around 9am. Most houses' corrugated iron sheets were upturned. Trees were uprooted. Some houses collapsed when they were hit by the falling trees. Some huts collapsed. None of the ward escaped, everyone was affected. All the areas of Hlaing Thayar Township were affected.

Resident 4

All the small houses collapsed. All the power lines collapsed. They collapsed on top of the houses. Trees were uprooted all over the places. All the streets were blocked and people cleared them the streets, on their own initiative and cut them into pieces so that cars could go through. Then, when we went to other places, we had to turn back as some streets were blocked, and we had to travel on other routes. All the streets were crowded with people , it looks like a wreck of a city.