Four days after cyclone Nargis, large areas of southern Burma remain paralyzed, including the country’s largest city, Rangoon, and international aid agencies fear that unless large-scale relief rapidly reaches the survivors the death toll could soar yet again.

Up to one million people are homeless, living rough and deprived of fresh water, food and medical supplies. Malaria and cholera are endemic in the stricken Irrawaddy Delta region, and conditions there could lead to deadly new outbreaks.

Urgently needed aid is being slowed by Burmese visa formalities and the regime’s reluctance to open up the region to outsiders, even relief workers.

Burma’s neighbors have begun sending aid and the UN’s World Food Program has reached the first of the stricken communities. But floods and damaged roads make most of the region very difficult to access.

Ironically, although the ruling junta has appealed for foreign aid, its visa and travel restrictions and suspicion of international organizations remain unchanged.

“We are trying to get maximum cooperation from the government,” Rashid Khalikov, director of the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, told reporters in New York. “We applied for visas. We have not got the visas.”

Ruptured communications hamper efforts by Burmese living in other parts of the country and overseas to contact family members and send aid to the survivors.

Instead of effective measures to relieve the continuing crisis, the regime only sends a “self-reliance” message to its people. Abandoned by their government, survivors tackle the task of clearing up the devastated streets and highways, aided by Buddhist monks. Owners of private wells are offering free water to their neighborhoods.

Burma’s armed forces—with an estimated 500,000 men in uniform—claim they are Burma’s only institution with the discipline, loyalty, unity and deep commitment necessary to protect the country. Where are they today when their country really needs them?

The real priority for the military government appears to be the constitutional referendum scheduled for this coming Saturday. The referendum will still be held, although voting will be postponed in the 47 townships worst hit by the cyclone.

The regime’s reaction to the cyclone and its indifference to the fate of the victims are shaming. This is no time for scoring political points in a sham referendum. The referendum should be suspended and every effort made to rush international aid to people for whom food and refuge is now more important than worthless ballot papers.