ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

YANGON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- A tripartite core group (TCG) involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Myanmar and the United Nations (U.N.) has claimed that the group' said efforts for transit of relief items into Myanmar and down into the cyclone-hard-hit delta, have reached over 1.3 million victims.

A press release of the TCG said the group has authorized entry visas and extension of stay permits to 294 officials and individuals coming to Myanmar for extending assistance to cyclone Nargis over the period from June 9 to 30.

With the support of the TCG, the humanitarian community has been able to expand assistance to the cyclone victims, it said.

The TCG expressed welcome over Singapore's recent donation of ground handling equipment to Myanmar for larger planes and speed up the unloading and delivery of international relief supplies from the donor community at the Yangon International Airport, quoting Singapore Ambassador to Myanmar Robert H K Chua.

The release also disclosed that ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and UN Under Secretary-General /UNESCAP Executive Secretary Noelleen Heyzer visited the Ayeyawaddy delta recently to witness the relief and early recovery efforts.

"For the first time media community from ASEAN countries were invited to see for themselves the continuing relief work from the government, private individual and the international community," the release said.

The release quoted Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister and TCG Chairman U Kyaw Thu as saying that the Myanmar government is currently focusing on quickly providing low-cost housing and temporary school building for the cyclone-affected communities.

The release also quoted Myanmar Ministry of Health as saying that with the support of the U.N., ASEAN, the Red Cross and international and national non-governmental organizations, the country's swift action has prevented mass outbreak of disease that was feared after the cyclone.

On June 24, the TCG claimed that its post-Nargis joint assessment teams have successfully completed its mission to Myanmar's Ayeyawaddy delta and Yangon division, saying that the preliminary findings provides inputs to the appeal revision scheduled to be released both in the UN in New York and Geneva on July 10 and the full report is to be released by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Singapore on July 20-21.

The tripartite core group worked for ten days from June 11 to 20 to make the joint assessment on the impact of cyclone Nargis that devastated Myanmar.

The Yangon-based tripartite core group was established at an ASEAN-U.N. international pledging conference held in Yangon in late May as a working mechanism for coordination, facilitating and monitoring the flow of international assistance into Myanmar's cyclone-hit areas.

The core group, along with ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and the ASEAN humanitarian task force, met on June 24 ASEAN roundtable on post-Nargis joint assessment for response, recovery and reconstruction held in Yangon.

Cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -- Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on last May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructure damage.

The storm has killed 84,537 people and left 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured according to Tuesday's official death toll.