The ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force, who held their fourth meeting in Singapore on 12 July 2008, was briefed on the preparations for the launch of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) Report.

The PONJA Report will be presented to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers when they meet in Singapore on 20-21 July 2008. The ASEAN Chair, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo, will preside over the launch of the report in Singapore on 21 July 2008. The report will be released concurrently in Yangon.

Secretary-General of ASEAN and Chair of the Task Force, Dr Surin Pitsuwan said, “We anticipate a comprehensive, credible and viable report based on the objective needs of the victims of Cyclone Nargis; a report that will be useful to help guide the relief and recovery efforts in cyclone-hit Myanmar, so that the medium-term needs of the Nargis victims are sufficiently addressed.”

PONJA is a joint assessment by ASEAN, the Government of Myanmar and the United Nations, with technical support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The assessment relies on two approaches; a rapid household and community survey of more than 290 villages in the affected areas, and an economic assessment of the damage and losses by sector.

Data from the report was used for the Revised Appeal of US$481.8 million launched by the United Nations in New York on 10 July 2008.

At the meeting, the Task Force decided to propose to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers post-PONJA activities to support the township hubs in their early recovery efforts to help the Nargis victims get back on their feet and regain their livelihoods as soon as possible, and to assist the Government of Myanmar over the next few months to draw up plans for future recovery efforts according to the findings and needs identified in the PONJA Report.