Thousands of refugees from Burma face a critical time this Christmas following Cyclone Nargis and volatile food prices. The warning comes from Christmas Bowl, the international aid agency of the National Council of Churches in Australia.

Development agencies say that the final outcome of the Burmese cyclone disaster, which latest reports suggest has claimed over 23,000 lives, may be on the scale of the Asian tsunami a few years ago. They are urging a global response.