Geneva  - Local people, made homeless themselves by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, were providing vital front line assistance to survivors in the worst-hit areas, the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), said Tuesday.

The IFRC's head of mission for Myanmar, Bridget Gardner, had just returned from Labutta close to where the cyclone had made landfall 12 days ago in the southern delta region.

She said: "They deserve to be sainted. Four or five volunteers are giving aid to up to 200 people a day and they don't even have homes to go back to when they finish."

IFRC spokesman in Geneva Eric Porterfield said: "I think that it is something important to mention - the role of local people in the communities who at this stage are the only ones with real ongoing access."

Labutta, a rice trading town, was virtually destroyed in the storm. Gardner said there were huge crowds of displaced people with 10,000 made homeless in a region where it was now pouring with rain.

IFRC said shelter, clean water and medical materials were the main priorities.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said there were cases of diarrhoea in six of the worst affected areas.

There were no confirmed cases of cholera so far but WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said it was feared the lack of clean water, sanitation and health facilities would see outbreaks of disease such as dengue fever and malaria, which was endemic, within four to five weeks.

WHO had sent enough medical material to help 80,000 people in kits for use by the so-called health clusters coordinated by WHO staff and made up of UN agencies and non-governmental organizations. (dpa)