Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said on Tuesday his country was ready to help the cyclone-ravaged Myanmar after the death toll from the weekend tragedy climbed to more than 15,000 people.
"We of course have had great difficulty with the regime but we have continued to supply modest amounts of humanitarian assistance directly to the people of Burma (Myanmar)," he told Sky News.
"And in these special circumstances we're very urgently examining what we can now do and we will do that in conjunction with the relevant agencies, the UN and the Red Cross and the like."
The death toll has blown out after tropical cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar at the weekend, with more than 15,000 people have died.
Smith said Australia's first priority would be to provide funds to aid organizations, which have been granted access to the country.
"The expected urgent needs will be shelter and clean water and food and medical assistance," he said.
Aid agency World Vision Australia has been given permission to enter the Southeast Asian nation and Canberra is on alert to provide financial assistance.
World Vision Australia chief Tim Costello said an immediate 3 million Australian dollars (2.7 million U.S. dollars) would be committed to its relief operation in the first month but additional financial assistance would depend on ongoing assessments of what was needed.
"We've been given the green light to go in, which is good from the perspective that this is not a normal democratic state," he told local media.
Source:Xinhua
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