ASEAN calls for $700m for Burmese cyclone victims
![The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations says the regional bloc must raise $700 million to help Burma's cyclone victims. [AFP]](http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200805/r249016_1021051.jpg "The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations says the regional bloc must raise $700 million to help Burma's cyclone victims. [AFP]")
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The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations says the regional bloc must raise $700 million to help Burma's cyclone victims. [AFP]
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The head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations says Burmese victims of Cyclone Nargis are in desperate need of help.
An estimated 140,000 people died when Cyclone Nargis hit Burma's coast on May 2nd last year.
Another 2.4 million people were severely affected by the cyclone.
More than $US300 million has been received from the international community; only 65 per cent of the full amount initially called for.
ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan told Radio Australia the regional bloc needs to raise another $700m for a three year recovery program in the country also known as Myanmar.
"We will be talking about livelihood, protection, healthy life and and that would require a longer term and a sustained effort among various groups and participants working on this humanitarian effort for the next three years," he said.
"The TCG, the Tripartite Core Group, which we established in order to do the day to day work in Myanmar, in Yangon overseeing the assistance to the victims of the Cyclone Nargis last May, they have come up with an estimate that for the next three years for the recovery effort they would need about $690 million. Now that is a rough estimate and that is an estimate that has to be discussed further."
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