But the aid amounts to about one-tenth of what is needed, along with a major logistical operation, the spokesman, Paul Risley, said.

Image Workers at the airport in Yangon, Myanmars main city, carried aid from China on Saturday. Myanmars government is refusing to let foreign aid workers in. Credit... European Pressphoto Agency

The focus for the military junta was on the referendum for a Constitution that is intended to perpetuate military rule. Residents said the vote followed a campaign of coercion mixed with propaganda.

The military appeared to be diverting some resources from cyclone victims to the voting, which was held in all but the hardest hit areas. A resident of Yangon, the main city, said by telephone that refugees who had sought shelter in schoolhouses had been evicted so they could be used as polling places. She said refugees had also been evicted from other buildings.

In Datgyigone, a village 35 miles north of Yangon, a precinct captain burst into laughter when asked if he thought most people would vote for the Constitution. “Everyone will vote yes,” he said. “Of course yes. Hundred percent.”

But he said that most voters had no idea what they were voting for, and that neither he nor most people he knew had actually read the proposed Constitution. “The government says vote, so we vote,” he said with a shrug. He spoke openly, but, fearing government retribution, asked that his name not be used.