The U.N. secretary-general has decided to dispatch his top emergency relief coordinator to Myanmar _ if he can get a visa from the nation’s military rulers.

Ban Ki-moon has been frustrated by the government’s obstacles to foreign assistance for victims of the May 3 cyclone.

He plans to send in John Holmes, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, to try to “open up more access” for U.N. personnel in some of the hardest-hit areas.

Holmes applied for a visa Wednesday to enter Myanmar but has not yet gotten approval to visit.

The U.N. worries a “second wave” of deaths from disease and starvation may result if more help isn’t provided quickly for up to 2.5 million people left homeless and hungry by the storm.