Blowing the roof off

Disaster: Myanmar’s devastating cyclone may open a closed country to outsiders as never before

A week after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar, nearly 2,000 square miles of the hard-hit region are still under water. With U.S. officials estimating up to 100,000 dead and the delta's 6 million residents susceptible to disease and further devastation, outside relief will be a long-term essential—but controversial.

As of last week the military junta that rules Myanmar, also known as Burma, was blocking U.S. and other Western aid into the region.

"If this cloud has a silver lining, it is that the outside world is waking up to Burma. What kind of government is so brutal and awful it won't allow aid workers in?" said Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International. His group has worked in Myanmar for 10 years, largely among Karen refugees along the country's border with Thailand, and already has medical workers on the ground and expected to reach the delta region within days.