State officials said the bodies needed to be burned quickly to reduce the threat from disease.

Migrant workers, who had sought jobs in the port city of Paradip, were among those cremated on a beach near the city.

They died as their shantytown homes were washed away in tidal waves generated by the cyclone.

Decomposing bodies are being cremated

A government official, quoted by the Reuters news agency, said: "There is no time to wait for relatives to claim the bodies."

The most recent official death toll is 924, but rescue workers expect it to climb much higher - possibly into the thousands. Many bodies are thought to have not yet washed ashore.

The BBC's South Asia correspondent, Mike Wooldridge, who is in the port town of Paradip, said a military helicopter had dropped the first food rations.

"They were immediately pounced upon by a hundred or so people who have been camped in the local school since the cyclone, and by other villagers who rushed over to the drop site.

The BBC's Mike Wooldridge: "The health hazards can hardly be more obvious"

"Those in the school are all too obviously living in the most insanitary conditions. Together with a large number of bloated animal carcasses around this and neighbouring villages, the threat of large-scale diarrhoeal disease is considered to be particularly high here."

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was to survey the area by air on Friday and to meet Orissa state authorities responsible for the relief efforts.

Floods caused by incessant rains since the cyclone are still hampering relief work.

Aid workers from the charity, Oxfam, estimate that up to five million people could suffer from outbreaks of disease as India struggles to get basic supplies to the region.

The BBC's Mike Wooldridge reports from Paradip

Orissa's special relief commissioner acknowledged that most people had not yet received any aid.

DN Pandhi said: "Relief has not yet reached 60% of the affected people.

"Out of 15 million people half of them are still marooned in flood waters."

Some supplies have got through

The Press Trust of India reported that many people had been forced to drink water in which decomposed bodies and animal carcasses were floating.

Officials are warning people not to drink polluted water, but clean water remains scarce.

Most parts of the state remain without electricity, but telecommunications have been restored in some parts of the capital, Bhubaneshwar.

And the authorities did manage to reopen Paradip port on Thursday, providing a vital route for emergency supplies.

So far, more than 12,000 tons of food have been delivered, mostly by air and sea.

Red Cross spokesman Patrick Fuller speaks to the BBC about organising the relief effort

But against that, the entire winter grain harvest in Orissa has been destroyed.

"We are trying to speed up relief operations, but infrastructural problems are making it difficult. We have asked the government for extra funds," said Orissa Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang.

More than 5,000 soldiers are involved in the distribution operation and in clearing roads.

The Red Cross has issued an appeal for nearly $3m to fund immediate relief efforts.

But spokesman Patrick Fuller said the region would also need long-term assistance if it was to recover the large-scale destruction.