Daw Thay, 42, who took refuge in a monastery with her three children and her 99-year-old mother in a town 60 miles south of Yangon, told The Associated Press monks were going without food so others could eat.
"My children were crying all night," she said. "There is not enough food. There will be no food this evening."
But aid is available if Myanmar's government can be convinced to allow it in.
"We're trying to make the diplomacy work," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, adding that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called China's foreign minister as part of an effort to have countries that have good relations with Myanmar to exert their influence.
The head of humanitarian affairs for the United Nations, John Holmes, said today that 1.5 million people were "severely affected," and in the five days since the storm struck they have become "increasingly desperate."
"There is a real danger that an even worse tragedy may unfold if we cannot get the aid that's desperately needed in quickly," Holmes warned.
Holmes said he was "disappointed" by the inability to get large amounts of aid or emergency relief teams into the ravaged country.
Earlier today, the head of America's disaster assistance agency hinted that the United States might ignore Myanmar's ruling junta and simply air drop food and supplies to desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis.
USAID's Director of Foreign Disaster Assistance Ky Luu complained at a briefing that the Myanmar regime has not even responded to U.S. requests for visas for its experienced teams of emergency relief specialists who are awaiting approval in Thailand.
Fearing a wave of death by starvation or an outbreak of disease, Luu said, "We don't have time to wait."
Luu said the U.S. is considering air drops into Myanmar, but he said that is not their first choice and USAID would prefer to be granted permission first. Simply dropping supplies would not be an efficient way to disperse aid because there would be no coordination on the ground and no way to notify victims that aid was being dropped for them.
McCormack later seemed to downplay the idea, saying, "Air drops are not the most efficient way to get assistance to people on the ground."
Gates said three or four U.S. Navy ships are now sailing to Myanmar and that the helicopters abroad are headed to Thailand to preposition in case they are needed should Myanmar give a green light for U.S. military assistance.
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