"WE HAVEN'T eaten rice for the past few days," Dowla Shwe says, sitting forlornly by the roadside in southern Burma, begging for food from every passer-by.

Since Cyclone Nargis struck last week, her five children have had only bananas and coconut.

"We have nothing," she says, nodding towards her starving children. "They are getting weak, and I fear they will fall sick and die."