STAMFORD — As the death toll continues to rise, local agencies are doing their part to help the thousands of victims desperately in need of aid in Myanmar.

AmeriCares, a non-profit international disaster relief and humanitarian aid organizations, recently shipped medical supplies from its warehouse on Hamilton Avenue in Stamford to Amsterdam, where it was combined with other supplies it had collected.

All told, the aid organization is sending nearly 15 tons of supplies valued at about $1 million to Yangon.

" As the situation on the ground in Myanmar grows increasingly urgent AmeriCares has assembled life-saving medical and other humanitarian supplies at our Stamford, Conn. and Amsterdam warehouses to be shipped immediately to our partners on the ground in Myanmar. AmeriCares staff are also en route to the region," said Curt Welling, president and CEO of AmeriCares, in a statement. "We are deeply concerned about the health and well-being of the families affected by this cyclone and are committed to ensuring they receive the help they need."

"We are awaiting to receive the appropriate visas so we can enter the country," said Peggy Atherlay, an AmeriCares spokesman.

At the moment, AmeriCares have been able to place two aid workers in Yangon, and one in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.

On Wednesday, Myanmar's ruling junta agreed to allow a Thai medical team into the Irrawaddy delta — the first foreign aid group to work in the cyclone-ravaged area.

Greenwich resident Jonathan Hodgdon, an emergency response and disaster manger with AmeriCares, is in Bangkok meeting with United Nations officials to assess the situation and determine what is needed, Atherlay said.

AmeriCares specializes in providing medical supplies, and sent antibiotics, topical ointments and vitamins among the other supplies that are desperately needed in situations like this one, Atherlay said.

Save the Children, a Westport-based non-profit, has raised $2.7 million in donations and pledges for its response efforts in Myanmar. The agency is seek to raise $10 million worldwide.

Myanmar television said the death toll had gone up by 2,335 to 34,273, and the number of missing stood at 27,838 after many of those listed as missing were accounted for.

The United Nations (U.N.) says the actual death toll could be between 62,000 and 100,000.

The U.N. said the World Food Program is getting in only 20 percent of the food needed because of bottlenecks, logistics problems and government-imposed restrictions.

"There is obviously still a lot of frustration that this aid effort hasn't picked up pace 10 days after the cyclone hit", said Richard Horsey, spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian operation in Bangkok.

Cyclone Nargis devastated the delta on May 2-3, leaving about 62,000 people dead or missing according to the government count. The U.N. has suggested the death toll is likely to be more than 100,000.

With their homes washed away and large tracts of land under water, some 2 million survivors, mostly poor rice farmers, are living in abject misery, facing disease and starvation.

The survivors are packed into Buddhist monasteries or camping in the open, drinking water contaminated by fecal matter, with dead bodies and animal carcasses floating around. Food and medicine are scarce.

The international Red Cross said its delegation in Myanmar found an urgent need for more medical supplies in the Irrawaddy delta.

"During the cyclone, many people held onto trees to avoid being blown away," Red Cross official Bridget Gardner said. "They were almost 'sand blasted' by dirt and saltwater; (many) lost the top layer of their skin and it's important that these injuries are treated before infections can set in."

The government has barred nearly all foreigners experienced in managing such catastrophes from going to the delta west of Yangon and is expelling those who have managed to go in.

"The situation only appears to be getting worse," Atherlay said. "We (AmeriCares) will continue to send whatever medical aid is needed."

Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.