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JAKARTA - A team of experts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has started work in Myanmar to assess the country's aid needs a month after a devastating cyclone, ASEAN said on Tuesday.
ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan said the so-called "Emergency Rapid Assessment Team" would produce an initial report in about three weeks but would not complete its work until mid-July.
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"I have high hopes on the joint assessment team," Surin said in a statement released from the Jakarta-based ASEAN secretariat.
"Based on the assessment report that they will produce, we will be able to identify the needs of the Cyclone Nargis' victims and intensify our efforts in the most needed areas."
ASEAN has been criticised for failing to respond soon enough to the May 2-3 storm in member country Myanmar, where the military regime has been reluctant to cooperate with international aid workers.
The United Nations says more than one million people are still waiting for aid after the cyclone left 133,000 dead or missing.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met personally with military leader Than Shwe on May 23 and reported that the general had agreed to allow foreign aid experts full access to the devastated Irrawaddy Delta.
More than a week later, aid agencies say access remains patchy and security forces continue to block roads throughout the vast disaster area, allowing in only a handful of foreign aid workers.
The military has agreed, however, to allow ASEAN to help coordinate relief efforts, and Surin said he would visit Yangon on Wednesday to visit the ASEAN "Task Force Office" there.
The assessment team, working in cooperation with the UN, would produce a "comprehensive report" on the relief, recovery, and rehabilitation effort by mid-July, more than two months after the storm hit.
A progress report would be available by June 24-25.
"ASEAN is committed to helping our friends in Myanmar and will continue to do so," Surin said, adding that the assessment team was "just the beginning of our commitments."
- AFP /ls
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