BANGKOK, May 23 (TNA) -- Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is setting up a 22-person committee to take charge of assessing all the damage caused by Cyclone Nargis inside Myanmar and to prepare emergency relief aid for Thailand's neighbouring country.
The former Thai foreign minister said the 22-person panel named "Coalition of Mercy" will consist of one senior government official and one technical official from each of ASEAN's 10 member states, plus himself and an assistant.
The panel will form a core group consisting of nine persons, three of whom will come from the ASEAN community, three from the United Nations and another three from the Myanmar government. The ASEAN core group will soon leave for Myanmar to carry out relief missions for the cyclone victims.
About five million Myanmar people have been affected by the devastations of Cyclone Nargis, as many as 1.5 million to 2 million of whom are in critical need of emergency relief aid from ASEAN and the world community.
The UN estimates that aid has reached only about 25 per cent of the surviving victims.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was briefed by Mr Surin on ASEAN's relief efforts, flew to Myanmar's remote new capital Naypyidaw, 390 km (250 miles) north of Yangon on Friday, for a rare audience with the military government's chief, Sr. Gen. Than Shwe, to attempt to persuade him to allow more international aid for over 2 million persons left destitute by Cyclone Nargis.
The UN head and the ASEAN chief are scheduled to attend an ASEAN-UN contingency meeting in the former Myanmar capital of Yangon on Sunday (May 25). Mr. Surin added that an air cargo supply centre will be set up at Don Mueang airport Saturday (May 24) from where donated food, clothing, medicine and other subsistence items will delivered urgently by air to the cyclone victims.
The official toll is nearly 134,000 people dead or missing, making Nargis one of the worst cyclones to hit Asia. (TNA)-E008
General News : Last Update : 10:19:41 23 May 2008 (GMT+7:00)
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