Washington: The United States today said it is providing an initial sum of 250,000 dollars in aid to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar through its embassy in Yangon and is looking at what more it can do to help.

"The embassy (in Yangon) did issue a disaster declaration authorising an immediate release of 250,000 Dollars in support for the Burmese government," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

Casey said a US disaster assistance response team was "standing by and ready to go into Burma (Myanmar) to help try and assess needs there," but had apparently not received permission from the ruling junta in Yangon.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel indicated earlier that aid released through the embassy "will go through the World Food Programme and other aid entities, so it doesn t necessarily go directly through the government."

Referring to the immediate embassy aid, Casey told AFP later: "This is an initial contribution. It is not intended to the full extent of US assistance."

Myanmar said earlier that nearly 4,000 people had been killed in the cyclone that tore into the impoverished and secretive Asian nation at the weekend, and that tens of thousands more could also be dead.

The announcement on state television increased the death toll from Tropical Cyclone Nargis more than ten-fold in the country once known as Burma, which has been under military rule for decades and is one of the poorest on the planet.

It said more than 2,100 people were missing and that tens of thousands more could have perished in other region -- areas where rescue workers had not yet been able to gauge the full scope of the destruction.

Source : PTI