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MYANMAR: Recovery efforts are improving in Myanmar, four months after Cyclone Nargis hit the country, according to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan.
The regional group on Thursday marked 100 days since it began coordinating humanitarian efforts in the devastated areas.
More than 80,000 people were killed in Myanmar's Irrawady Delta after Cyclone Nargis hit the region in early May.
Foreign aid was initially barred by the government.
After the United Nations (UN) intervened, ASEAN offered to help facilitate early relief efforts by the international community.
It formed the Tripartite Core Group, along with the Myanmar government and the UN.
Said Surin: "I think we have done quite well. I think we certainly opened that humanitarian space, helped people and brought in a lot of rescue efforts.
“So on the whole, I think we have earned the trust, the mutual trust between the authorities and the people of Myanmar and ASEAN and the international community."
The Secretary General continued to say that while the Myanmar government has its own plan for long-term recovery, getting sufficient funds remains an issue.
"Still, the challenge is to have more in order to do the work,” Surin said.
“People there did not have much to begin with. A lot has been destroyed. It will need a lot more to rehabilitate, to give them a chance to recover, before they can really pick up and move on."
The Tripartite Core Group has been given the mandate to continue its work in Myanmar until July next year.
By helping to improve the level of trust between the international community and Myanmar, it hopes to find more opportunities to encourage the government to move closer towards national reconciliation.
The Myanmar government has continued to rebuff calls to restart political dialogue with the opposition, which was stalled after the cyclone disaster.
- CNA/yb
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