ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

By THE IRRAWADDY | The European Commission will give €40.5 million (US $52.4 million) in humanitarian aid to Burma this year.

€22 million has been allocated to meet the continuing needs of cyclone-hit communities in the Irrawaddy delta and €18.5 million is being provided targeting other highly vulnerable populations, as well Burmese refugees in Thailand and the Rohingya Muslims who are living in northern Arakan State, according to a statement.

The €18.5 million relief program for 2009 includes €8.75 million for highly vulnerable rural people in remote areas along the Chinese and Thai borders. The main sectors of assistance there will be protection, water/sanitation, food aid, nutrition and health.

"We have progressively developed a very good cooperation with the authorities on humanitarian access in the Irrawaddy Delta in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. The commission will continue advocating for similar cooperation and access to other parts of the country," said European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel.

Cyclone Nargis, which killed an estimated 140,000 people and affected 2.4 million others, severely disrupted key economic activities including farming and fishing, and significant humanitarian needs remain.

Meanwhile, the head of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) says Burmese victims of Cyclone Nargis are in desperate need of help.

Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told Radio Australia the regional bloc needs to raise another $700m for a three-year recovery program in Burma, also known as Myanmar.

"The TCG, the Tripartite Core Group, which we established in Yangon in order to do the day-to-day work in Myanmar overseeing the assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis, they have come up with an estimate that for the next three years for the recovery effort they would need about $690 million. Now that is a rough estimate, and that is an estimate that has to be discussed further."