By Xinhua,
Yangon : A 30-member Thai medic team arrived in Myanmar’s biggest city of Yangon Saturday afternoon to extend direct aid to victims who survived a severe cyclone storm Nargis that hit some parts of the country early this month, according to diplomatic sources.
The Thai medics, including 18 doctors and 12 nurses, is the first bunch of foreign medical staff allowed by the Myanmar government to carry out relief work in the country’s cyclone-devastated regions, a fortnight after the disaster.
The Thai medics brought along 230,000 U.S. dollars’ medicine aid supplies.
According to the Thai Public Health Ministry earlier, before their departure, the Thai medics, under the patronage of Thai Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, will provide emergency treatment to the Myanmar victims.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar government’s Committee for Reconstruction of Towns and Villages has laid down specific plan for immediate reconstruction of necessary buildings in storm-hit towns and villages in Ayeyawaddy and Yangon division under an emergency phase-by-phase project.
At a meeting with his visiting Thai counterpart Samak Sundaravej in Yangon on Wednesday, Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein said “Now all the relief work has been completed. As a second step, relief work is being carried out”, adding that “The relief goods such as food, clothing and medicines that have come from the international community shortly after the storm are enough for the victims”.
A deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states — Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangoninflicted the heaviest casualties and infrastructural damage.
Hard-hit coastal towns in the southwestern Ayeyawaddy division include Haing Gyi Island, Laputta, Mawlamyinegyun, Bogalay, Phyarpon, Kyaiklat, Ngaputaw, and Dedaye, while worst-hit areas inYangon division comprised Kungyangon, Thanlyin, Kyauktan, Twantay, Kawmu as well as the Yangon city.
According to a latest official death toll released on Friday evening, as many as 77,738 people have been killed in the disaster with 55,917 still missing and 19,359 injured.