Yangon, Myanmar (AP) U.N. officials are warning of an escalating threat for two million people at risk of disease and starvation in Myanmar unless relief efforts are dramatically stepped up.

Nearly two weeks after a devastating cyclone, military leaders of the southeast Asian nation are still barring foreigners from access to the hardest hit region, insisting “skillful humanitarian workers are not necessary.”

Soldiers at checkpoints are keeping aid workers and reporters out.

An international Red Cross representative who was allowed in reports whole towns have been obliterated to the point of being unrecognizable. Thousands of survivors have no shelter against new rainfall. But she says local volunteers are saving lives, calling
them “humanitarian heroes.”

Two U.S. relief flights have made it to Myanmar this week carrying blankets, water and mosquito netting and a third shipment is being sent.