Myanmar cyclone official toll: 22,464

YANGON, Myanmar, May 6 (UPI) -- Relief agencies Tuesday worked feverishly to mount a massive effort for Myanmar after military rulers reported 22,464 people died due to a monster cyclone.

As many as 41,000 people were listed as missing by the military junta ruling the country formerly known as Burma, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Incomplete information, however, has prompted some relief organizations to predict the death toll could clime to more than 63,000 and the homeless number in the millions, the British newspaper said.

The normally secretive leadership asked for foreign assistance, with Foreign Minister Nyan Win making an appeal on state-run television for tents, medicine and water purification equipment

"We will welcome help ... from other countries, because our people are in difficulty," he said.

Maung Maung Swe, Myanmar's social welfare minister, said most of the town of Bogalay, was washed away, killing more than 10,000 people.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations "will do whatever (is necessary) to provide urgent humanitarian assistance."

The United States initially made available $250,000 through its embassy in Myanmar for non-government organizations and U.S. President George Bush said Tuesday the United States was poised to do more.

"The military junta must allow disaster assessment teams into the country," Bush said Tuesday when signing legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmarese pro-democracy leader under house arrest for 12 years. "Our message is to the military rulers is: Let the United States come to help you, help the people."

Despite the disaster, the junta plans to have Saturday's constitution referendum, which critics see as a ploy to kept the military in power.