While international politicians wonder about how to engage with the socialist regime, which holds China as one of its closest allies and has been criticised by the United States, its people have suffered under a veil of fear.

Last Saturday's Cyclone Nagris brought 120mph winds and a huge tidal surge which left 23,000 dead and almost 50,000 people missing.

Aid workers and diplomats believe the death toll could be as high as 100,000, making it the world's biggest disaster since the Boxing Day 2005 Tsunami.

Up to one million people are reported homeless after their houses were washed away, bodies remain unburied and neighbours are turning against each other in the desperate search for food and clean water.

Already the British, American and Chinese governments have pledged millions to help the aid effort, but the Burmese political agenda has made progress slow.

Aid agencies and the United Nations have been frustrated in their attempts to get people and supplies into the country, prompting fears the initial death toll could rise as disease and famine ravages the already devastated towns and villages along the Irrawaddy Delta.

Fylde councillor Howard Henshaw is particularly touched by the events he has seen unfolding on the television, having visited the former capital Rangoon several times during the 1980s while working with the Standard Chartered Bank in the Far East.

He said: "Of the 136 countries I have visited around the world, Burma has to be the saddest.

"It's people are kind and gentle, those I met were very friendly. But sadly they live in fear of their military leaders.

"This is a terrible situation, made worse by the fact that the government was not prepared for a disaster and have been obstructive in the aftermath."

As international director for Standard Chartered, Coun Henshaw discovered first-hand how far the controlling arm of the Burmese Government stretched.

The bank was nationalised after independence and, despite brief talks, Coun Henshaw was told not to expect foreign interests ever to be allowed back into the country.

Such sentiments seem to have been played out, even in the face of huge tragedy, with UN and US aid flights delayed because of landing restrictions in Burma and aid workers still waiting for visas.

But Coun Henshaw, who has lobbied MPs on the issue in the past, hopes the focus of the international spotlight on this tiny sliver of the South Asian continent will lead to its re-entry into the international community.

"We went into Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein, a country with 25m people, but we ignore and abandon the 50m people of Burma. They all lived in fear so what is the difference?

"Once we tried to tip a tour guide but he was petrified of being seen accepting money from us.