One of our Burmese observers sent us this image, taken in the Irrawaddy Delta region a few days after the devastating Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma’s low-lying coastal regions on May 3. He explains why the bodies of these three children are bound together at the wrist - apparently to prevent them from being whipped away by the cyclone.

Western diplomats quoted by the AFP news service today talk about a death toll of around 100,000 people. Kio, our Burmese Observer based in neighbouring Thailand, denounces the lethargy of the ever-suspicious Burmese military junta, which has only allowed a trickle of international aid into the country. Kio is concerned about the risk of epidemics, as corpse-riddled waters contaminate the region’s water supplies. Burmese bloggers are publishing grim photographs of corpses (here and here). The Observers is publishing just one of these images to give an idea of the extent of the damage wrecked by the cyclone. This photo of three tiny, bound children provides some idea of the horrors many Burmese parents must have experienced in the panic-stricken moments before the full impact of Nargis. Apparently, the parents - or loved ones – of these children had the time to tie them together in a desperate attempt to prevent them from being carried away by the winds. But it was not enough to save them.