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SINGAPORE: About S$1.49 million has been raised by various organisations in Singapore for the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.
Red Cross has raised S$1 million, World Vision has collected S$160,000, while Mercy Relief and The Salvation Army have received S$250,000 and S$80,000 respectively.
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Eight aid workers from Mercy Relief are now waiting for visa approval from the Myanmar government to travel to the disaster-hit country to provide humanitarian aid.
Alicia Wong, who has been to other troubled areas such as Aceh in 2004, is one of the aid workers from Mercy Relief. The 35-year-old full-time worker said she does not expect this trip to be any different from her Aceh trip.
She said: "I think with every disaster, there's always chaos. There is human suffering, there is pain and in a lot of countries, all these factors are made worse by poverty. This is, in a way, similar to the tsunami because it is all water-related.
"But in this case, partly because of regulatory limitations, aid has been delayed. So based on reports and based on what everybody has been saying, there are a lot more dead bodies lying around, whereas in other disasters, those have been cleared. So this may cause disease outbreaks."
Besides aid workers, the team from Mercy Relief also includes doctors and nurses. They are slated to be in Myanmar for up to ten days before other teams take over for a period of two weeks each.
By the time the first team arrives, a batch of supplies worth S$42,000 from Mercy Relief would have reached Myanmar.
To help Mercy Relief in its mission, the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SICCI) has given S$50,500 to the organisation.
SICCI Chairman Vijay Iyengar said: "The response to SICCI's appeal for donations from our members has been overwhelming. SICCI's members and the Singapore business community as a whole have always been a pillar of support for such worthy causes."
Hassan Ahmad, chief executive of Mercy Relief, said: "The SICCI was the first to approach Mercy Relief to extend its aid for victims of the cyclone in Myanmar. The pledge of support by the SICCI was unsolicited and came even before Mercy Relief had obtained our fundraising permit."
- CNA/so
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