ASEAN foreign ministers yesterday agreed to establish an Asean-led coordinating mechanism that will facilitate proper distribution and utilization of assistance from the international community to cyclone-hit Myanmar.

Asean will also now work with the United Nations in holding an Asean-UN International Pledging Conference, to be held in Yangon on May 25, Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo said.

Myanmar state television said the official death count from the May 3 cyclone was 77,738, with 55,917 others missing, while foreign reports said that aid workers were struggling to get even the most basic data about the needs of up to 2.5 million survivors.

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that a lack of clean water may swell the ranks of the dead.

At the end of a three-hour special meeting attended by foreign ministers of all 10 member countries, including Myanmar's Nyan Win, Yeo said the mechanism would be drawn from the Indonesian experience during the 2004 tsunami.

Yeo said the ministers agreed to establish a task force, to be headed by Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan, which will work closely with the UN as well as a central coordinating body to be set up by Myanmar.

The mechanism will include the expeditious and effective deployment of relief workers, especially health and medical personnel, in the quickest time possible.

As a start, the Myanmar government had agreed to accept the immediate despatch of medical teams from all the Asean countries, Yeo said, adding that Asean had sent an Emergency Rapid Assessment Team to Myanmar, and was ready to provide additional support.

"Myanmar should allow more international relief workers into the stricken areas, as the need is most urgent, given the unprecedented scale of the humanitarian disaster."

Yeo also pointed out that medical and relief teams from member countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Laos had already been at the scene some time back.

The special meeting of Asean foreign ministers was initiated by Singapore, the current Asean chair, to discuss the humanitarian situation in Myanmar, and how the country can best be assisted in relief and recovery efforts.

Yeo said the international community was also ready to assist and provide additional resources to alleviate the situation, and Myanmar was prepared to accept the expertise of international and regional agencies to help in its rehabilitation efforts.

However, he said it was agreed that any form of international assistance to Myanmar, given through Asean, should not be politicised.

"On that basis, Myanmar will accept international assistance."

Nyan Win, meanwhile, was a man much sought after by the press corps, who pounded him with question after question on his government's initial refusal to allow foreign aid and expertise into the country.

"This is not entirely true. We have let in a number of medical and relief teams. But for the rest, if we need to issue visas, we will issue them," he said.

At a separate private meeting with Nyan Win later, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim handed over a $1US million (RM3.2 million) contribution for cyclone victims on behalf of the Malaysian government.

BYLINE: Ridzwan Abdullah