Yangon - Myanmar relief operations for victims of Cyclone Nargis have made progress since mid-May but much still needs to be done, especially in remote parts of the Irrawaddy Delta, a senior United Nations official announced Wednesday.

"Significant progress has been made since I was last here," said UN humanitarian chief John Holmes, who last visited Myanmar in May 18 when international aid and aid workers were still facing enormous hurdles to reach more than 2 million victims of the cyclone that smashed into Myanmar's central coast on May 2-3.

"We must focus now on reaching the most vulnerable communities in remote areas, especially along the southern coast of the delta," said Holmes, who visited the Irrawaddy delta Tuesday and is scheduled to meet with Myanmar's military leaders in their capital of Nay Pyi Taw on Thursday, UN sources said.

Holmes on Wednesday met with Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, the civilian bureaucrat who has been placed in charge of facilitating relief operations in the cyclone-hit areas.

In the aftermath of the storm, which left about 140,000 dead or missing, Myanmar's ruling junta drew international condemnation for hampering relief efforts, especially in the Irrawaddy delta.

Relief efforts sped up once UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon won a promise from Myanmar military supremo General Than Shwe to facilitate the process, and a tripartite mechanism was established among the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the UN and Myanmar government for emergency assistance.

The joint committee assessed the damage at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Singapore earlier this week, estimating that 1 billion dollars would be needed over the next three years for the worst-hit areas including the largest city Yangon.

The UN issued a flash appeal for 482 million dollars from donors to handle ongoing relief efforts for the remainder of the year.

The economic losses attributed to the cyclone were estimated to be about 2.7 per cent of the country's gross domestic product for 2008, according to the report. (dpa)