Yangon  - Relief supplies continued to arrive at Yangon's international airport for people in the Irrawaddy delta region hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis early this month but red tape also continued to slow the arrival of much more urgently needed aid, officials said.

Japanese officials donated water tanks, generators, tents and other supplies worth 380,000 dollars on Sunday, taking their total aid for cyclone relief to nearly 1 million dollars, the Japanese embassy in Yangon said.

Japan's Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Hitoshi Kimura presented the supplies from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at the airport.

With growing concern how the foreign supplies are being used the junta took about 60 UN officials and foreign diplomats to the delta to examine relief efforts via helicopter Saturday, but they saw only a small part of the region which is about the same size as Austria or Japan's Hokkaido island.

Some supplies are getting through but trained emergency workers, including doctors, who have experience in emergency situations are finding it more difficult to get in.

Thailand, which shares a long border with Myanmar and like its neighbour is a member of the 10-nation Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), sent 30 medical staff to the cyclone-stricken country Saturday. They are part of 100 medical staff from Asian countries allowed into Myanmar to assist in relief efforts.

Thailand's C-130 military aircraft departure was delayed more than four hours waiting for clearance from Myanmar authorities. The delay was "due to strict entry procedures imposed by the military junta," the government-run Thai News Agency reported.

The medical teams are expected to stay in Myanmar until May 31, said Dr. Surachet Stitniramai, director of Thailand's Public Health Ministry's Narenthorn Center.

They will be allowed in the outskirts of Yangon and not in the delta region hardest hit by the cyclone that came ashore May 2-3, Thai officials said.

A French warship with 1,500 tons of relief supplies, including medicine and food, continued to wait in international waters off the coast. There was still no official word Sunday if Myanmar authorities would allow it to deliver the supplies.

The government's official death toll from Cyclone Nargis Sunday stood at the same as late Friday with 78,000 dead and an additional 56,000 missing, state-run television reported.

Relief groups put the death toll from the cyclone at more than 100,000. They also have said an additional more than 2 million are at risk from starvation and disease if relief does not arrive soon. (dpa)