Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today launched a fund for the victims of the May 3 cyclone which hit Myanmar, taking the death toll to what could be as high as 100,000.

The Myanmar Cyclone Humanitarian Relief Fund, organised by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), was launched at the lobby of Parliament House here.

The fund was launched to enable Malaysians who wanted to contribute to the relief effort in Myanmar to channel the aid through the Foreign Ministry.

Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri said Malaysians could send cheques in the name of the “Foreign Ministry Disaster Fund”. “We will channel the contributions to the Myanmar government for distribution to the cyclone victims,” he told reporters.

He also said that the ministry had reactivated the humanitarian fund to help victims of Monday’s earthquake in China which has so far claimed about 9,000 lives.