By Xinhua,
Bangkok : A caravan of Thai army trucks carrying relief supplies left Bangkok Tuesday for the former Myanmar capital of Yangon to provide assistance for cyclone victims in Myanmar.
Thai Supreme Commander Gen. Boonsang Niempradit on Tuesday sendoff the ten trucks carrying 120 metric tons of relief supplies to Myanmar.
The trucks will enter Myanmar through a border bridge that links the Mae Sot district in Thai northwestern province Tak and Myawaddy town in Myanmar, according to a report by Thai News Agency.
Myanmar has just given permission to Thailand for the land transport ferrying of relief supplies, which is less expensive than delivering goods by air. The supplies represent donations coming from the army and the public, Boonsang said.
Yangon, rather than Bangkok as originally planned, will host a meeting on international aid to cyclone-hit Myanmar on Sunday to be organized by the UN and ASEAN.
Thai foreign minister Noppadol Pattama said Tuesday after he attended the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Singapore on Myanmar disaster relief Monday, that his Myanmar counterpart said it needed up to 400 billion baht (12,400 million U.S. dollars) to complete the rehabilitation work.
A large number of people were severely affected by the Cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar on May 3 and more than 100,000 houses, facilities as well as farming areas were heavily damaged.
The process would take at least a few years, said the Thai Foreign Minister.