SINGAPORE will provide US$200,000 (S$272,000) in humanitarian aid to Myanmar, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis over the weekend.

The humanitarian assistance package includes medical supplies, drinking water, water purifying tablets, tents, groundsheets, blankets, sleeping bags and emergency food, said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

At least 15,000 people were killed in the cyclone and the death toll was likely to rise as officials made contact with the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta areas, Myanmar's foreign minister said on state television.

Relief and resettlement measures are underway after the government formed a national central committee for prevention of natural disaster to promptly and effectively carry out the undertakings.

The cyclone has affected about 24 million people or nearly half the population, according to the United Nations.

Appeal for 'generous' help from Asean
Asean on Tuesday appealed for 'generous' international aid for its member Myanmar.

'We are now appealing to all Asean governments, the private sector and the civil society ... to please respond generously,' Surin Pitsuwan, Asean secretary general told reporters in Singapore.

Mr Surin also called for help from Asean's dialogue partners, which include the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea, as well as from non-government organisations and civil society groups worldwide.

'Bilateral and regional efforts are now being coordinated with the international agencies, including the UN agencies, in order to bring quick, effective and adequate assistance to Myanmar,' he said.

Mr Surin, a former Thai foreign minister, said he had discussed the disaster with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who proposed that Asean should help stricken members as a regional grouping.

He said he hoped that 'we, Asean, can begin to build a stockpile of emergency relief as a network in the region in order to be prepared for such natural calamities and disasters,' Mr Surin said.

Asean and its three biggest trading partners in the region, China, Japan and South Korea - also known as 'Plus Three' countries - already have an East Asian emergency supply of rice.

Mr Surin said discussions are underway on how to tap into this rice stockpile to help Myanmar.

'There is a stockpile ready to be delivered in times of emergency among Asean and Asean Plus Three,' he said, adding that regulations governing disbursement needed to be worked out.

'The intention is there. The stock is available,' he said.

'I think they are getting into serious discussions now.'

Lessons from the 2004 tsunami that hit countries bordering the Indian Ocean, including Asean states Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, 'have given us a wake-up call and has triggered a sense of urgency among us all to get going,' he said.

'We cannot be complacent any longer about this kind of disasters that can come anytime.'

The 2004 tsunami killed 220,000 people in a dozen countries but caused little damage in Myanmar.

Mr Surin was in Singapore to speak at the launch of a new centre on non-traditional security issues - including climate change and degradation of the environment.