Step up response to Cyclone Nargis

  • 11/07/2008

  • Hindu (New Delhi)

Noeleen Heyzer and Surin Pitsuwan It is time to scale up effective programmes to support the health, education and livelihoods of the people of Myanmar. Now, more than two months after Cyclone Nargis left a trail of death and destruction in Myanmar, events and developments elsewhere around the globe have captured many of the region's news headlines. But not being the centre of the media's attention does not mean that the plight of Myanmar is over. Unfortunately, that is far from being the case. The world's attention will surely re-focus on Myanmar in the coming days, with the launch of the Revised Flash Appeal on July 10. The initial appeal sought $187 million to enable international partners to support the Government of Myanmar in addressing the needs of more than 1,500,000 people affected by the cyclone. The Revised Flash Appeal is based on the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment Report (PONJA) undertaken by the Tripartite Core Group, consisting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Government of Myanmar and the United Nations. The PONJA report will be launched in Singapore, on July 21, at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Yet, in our separate capacities as the chairperson of the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force and a member of the Humanitarian Task Force Advisory Group, we were recently provided with the report's preliminary findings