US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned her Chinese counterpart to ask Beijing to persuade Myanmar to accept international aid for an estimated 1.5 million people believed to be severely affected by the Cyclone Nargis disaster. The storm is feared to have killed 100,000 people in the country.

The US government believes existing stocks of relief supplies in Myanmar might be enough for about 10,000 people.

In New York, US envoy to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington was "outraged" by the Myanmar government's delays in allowing relief workers and aid shipments.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates also spoke out forcefully, saying the Pentagon was preparing the same kind of assistance it provided after other disasters in the region, including the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

"There is an opportunity here to save a lot of lives and we are fully prepared to help and to help right away, and it would be a tragedy if these assets -- if people didn't take advantage of them," Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

The United States and Myanmar have long been estranged. President George W. Bush imposed a new round of sanctions on the country's military leaders just last week to pressure them on human rights and political reform.

'OUR INTEREST IS NONPOLITICAL'

Gates rejected a suggestion that suspicions among Myanmar's leaders about US military intentions could help explain their reluctance to accept outside help.

"I'd be surprised if they misinterpreted our intentions that badly," he said. "Our interest here is totally non-political."

Gates said the Bush administration is determined to see aid reach disaster sufferers and might accept another country as an intermediary if direct assistance proved unfeasible.

"My belief would be that if we cannot get in directly, that we would be prepared to work creatively with others in any way we could to help. And if that involves using an intermediary, perhaps we would do that," he said.

In the meantime, the Pentagon moved aircraft and ships toward Myanmar to be ready should aid be allowed to commence.

Four ships, including the destroyer USS Mustin and the three-vessel Essex Expeditionary Strike Force, began heading for the Myanmar coast from the Gulf of Thailand after deploying helicopters into Thailand for possible relief work.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the ships, which carry 1,800 US Marines, would be off the Myanmar coast in roughly five days.

Mullen emphasized that the US military would not undertake humanitarian operations without Yangon's permission.

"It's sovereign air space and you'd need their permission to fly in that air space," Mullen said.

Two Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo planes arrived at a staging point near Utaphao in southern Thailand on Thursday with 46 military personnel who were ready to establish an airstrip inside Myanmar for relief airlift if Yangon gave its permission. A third C-130 was expected.

A C-17 Globemaster cargo plane laden with water purification systems and US military meals-ready-to-eat also landed at the same location.