State television has shown footage of top generals handing out relief supplies at Buddhist temples or climbing into helicopters, and soldiers hacking away at fallen trees with axes and hand saws.

But many in the country of 53 million people are likely to see such images as pure propaganda and are unlikely to be convinced, said political analyst Aung Naing Oo, who fled to Thailand after a brutally crushed 1988 uprising.

“They often want to show the people that they have enough in the country to handle any disaster. This is the message they always send out — we don’t need help,” he told Reuters in Bangkok.

“But the myth they have projected about being well prepared has been totally blown away,” he said.

Meanwhile,US President George W Bush on Wednesday called on Myanmar's military junta to allow the United States to provide disaster assistance after the devastating cyclone.

•Myanmar's government raised its death toll on Tuesday from the devastating Cyclone Nargis to 22,500 killed and 41,000 missing

• Referendum on "roadmap to democracy" scheduled for Saturday, May 10, postponed in some storm-hit areas

• States of emergency lifted in some areas

• Junta accepts outside help, UN awaits visas for rehabilitation workers