BANGKOK (AFP) - The United States will send two more relief flights into cyclone-hit Myanmar on Tuesday, an aid official said, hours after the first US flight of emergency supplies landed in the country.

“We will send two flights of relief supplies in tomorrow, and we will take it one day at a time,” said Henrietta Fore, an administrator with the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Fore said a group of US officials led by Admiral Timothy Keating, chief of the US Pacific Command, held a meeting with senior Myanmar authorities when they touched down on the C-130 military transporter on Monday.

“It was a cordial meeting and we exchanged ideas on how we might assist in the relief effort. They showed us maps of where they had the greatest need,” she told a press conference.

“Water, food, mosquito nets, shelter materials and blankets were all highlighted as extremely important.”

Fore said Keating briefed the Myanmar officials, including the deputy ministers from the foreign affairs and social welfare ministries, on the US capability to help in the aftermath of the cyclone.

He told them the United States was “ready to assist in these efforts”, she said.

“I hope we could lay the groundwork for a broad US united effort. I believe our discussions were a good first step,” Fore said. “I see it as a beginning, but this will all take time.”

Keating said it had “been some time” since an official of his rank had visited Myanmar, a bitter enemy of the United States which regularly criticises the ruling junta for failing to shift to democracy.