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SYDNEY: Australia will provide 25 million Australian dollars (23.5 million US) in humanitarian aid to Myanmar to help it recover from a devastating cyclone, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Sunday.
"A total contribution of 12.5 million dollars will be made to the United Nations Flash Appeal, matching Japan and the United Kingdom as some of the highest donors to the fund," Smith said in a statement.
"In addition, Australia will provide 12.5 million dollars directly through international agencies and non-government organisations with the ability to deliver assistance quickly and effectively on the ground in the worst-affected areas."
Fast Facts
The aid package includes the initial 3.0 million Australian dollars pledged by Australia shortly after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last weekend.
Smith said Australia was doing "everything possible" to ensure that aid was reaching those affected by the storm which has killed tens of thousands in the military-ruled nation formerly known as Burma.
But he said access for aid workers and supplies was the greatest challenge.
"While the international community is responding well to the immense needs, if the Burmese regime were prepared to fully open its doors, a massive increase in delivery of humanitarian assistance would be possible," he said.
The ruling junta has refused to allow foreign experts who specialise in getting aid to disaster victims into the country despite the scale of the disaster.
Smith said Australia was continuing to work with the international community to pressure the regime to open up "so that the urgent needs of the Burmese people can be met."
"It's become clear... that we are dealing with a human tragedy on a mammoth scale," Smith told reporters in Perth.
"It is beyond the capacity of any one nation state to deal with."
On Friday the UN launched an emergency appeal for 187 million US dollars to help the cyclone victims. Japan has pledged 10 million US dollars while Britain is providing five million pounds (10 million US dollars) in immediate aid, to be channelled via the United Nations and various charities.
The cyclone, which smashed into the rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta region in the country's south, left 60,000 people dead or missing and as many as two million more short of food, water and supplies.
The United Nations has said that a week after Cyclone Nargis hit, only one-quarter of the victims had received any help at all, and described the relief effort as "a race against time". - AFP/ac
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