According to a commission statement, “The European Commission on Thursday pledged an additional 40.5 million euros (US $58.7 million) to the Burmese people inside the country and along its borders.”

As per the statement, nearly 22 million euros will go to the people affected by the Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy delta and about 18.5 million euros will go to help the highly vulnerable people in the remote regions along the Sino-Burmese border and in the Burmese refugee camps on the Thailand-Burma border, via the operational partners such as nongovernmental organizations, UN agencies and the Red Cross.

The cyclone which hit on 2-3 May, took the lives of more than 14,000 people and many were missing following the cyclone.

The project, managed by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department, under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel would assist nearly 2 million people.

The statement said, “The aid will focus on laborers, landless farmers and fishermen living in isolated areas. The assistance will be directed toward aiding people in recovering jobs, food supply, shelter, water sanitation, healthcare and nutrition.”

Michel added, “The objective of our activities in Myanmar [Burma] is solely humanitarian. My agency worked well with the Burmese government while providing humanitarian assistance to cyclone survivors immediately after the disaster.”