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JAKARTA: ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan on Monday called for all member states to offer "urgent relief assistance" to Myanmar where a cyclone has killed more than 10,000 people.
"I heard the news of the cyclone with deep concern," Surin said in a statement from the Jakarta headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
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"I am sure Myanmar's neighbours in ASEAN are standing by ready to join the international community to extend help in whatever form the government of Myanmar would like them to do."
He said such assistance would be "in line with the spirit" of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response, which was signed in 2005 but was not yet in force.
"Given the frequency of such major natural disasters, ASEAN must on its own as well as in collaboration with its friends and partners intensify efforts in disaster management and emergency response," he said.
The United Nations has said hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless by Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which struck late Friday about 220 kilometres southwest of Yangon.
The Myanmar junta on Monday increased the death toll to more than 10,000, and said thousands were missing.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. - AFP/de
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