As the death toll from the cyclone and resultant storm surge in Myanmar climbs (now some 22,000 according to the state media), aid efforts are still being hampered (LA Times).

The cyclone is being called the worst to hit Asia since 1991, when 143,000 died in Bangladesh (multiple sources). NASA has some satellite photos of the area taken before and after the storm, showing the extent of flooding (pictured here; NASA).

Why were things so bad? The storm was a severe one: peak wind speeds were 215 km/h (wikipedia), which makes it a category 4 storm in a scale of 1-5. But damage was exacerbated by the high density of people on the coast and the storm surge of up to 3.5 metres caused by the winds, said ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan (BBC). Storm surges of up to 5.5 metres can be typical of category 4 storms. Warnings were issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which named the storm in late April (history of warnings linked to in wikipedia, initially targeted at Bangladesh more than Myanmar). But commentators on BBC radio complained there was only a few hours of warning for the people affected. For the moment it’s hard to tell exactly what happened on the ground.

Pitsuwan has also blamed a destruction of natural mangroves along the coast for the excessive damage (BBC again). There don’t seem to be any supporting claims from ecologists or storm specialists as yet, though mangroves were thought responsible, in part, for limiting damage in Sri Lanka from the Asian tsunami in December 2004.

The NY Times ‘dot earth’ blog highlights the trajectory of the storm as plotted on Google Earth, and puts in a shout to maintain Earth observation satellite systems, including systems to consolidate and use the data.