Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Thursday that leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plan to hold a special summit next week to come up with specific measures to help countries that have been struck by last Sunday's earthquake and tsunami disaster.

Lee told a news conference that the main aim of the summit is to request the United Nations to establish a special fund to help in post-disaster relief and reconstruction efforts and appoint a special representative to coordinate work to help the afflicted countries.

The gathering will also discuss other issues such as the establishment of a tsunami warning system that is currently lacking in the region.

He proposed the summit to leaders of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia on Thursday, and all of them supported the idea. Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are the ASEAN member countries that have been hit hard by the disaster.

''We hope to hold it next week,'' he said at the news conference, which was held at the presidential palace where his office is also located.

Besides the 10 ASEAN member countries, the idea is to also involve disaster-stricken countries outside the region such as India and Sri Lanka, countries that could render assistance, such as China, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and international agencies such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Health Organization.

It is not the first time that ASEAN has called for a special summit meeting to cope with a crisis. Last year, ASEAN leaders also held an urgent summit to discuss how to deal with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, a flu-like disease that spread through some East Asian countries and claimed many lives. However, that meeting did not involve such a large gathering as being proposed now.

Lee said Indonesia and Thailand have proposed to host the meeting, and ASEAN foreign ministers have been assigned to work out details on the venue, timing and participation.

An ASEAN source said the summit meeting is likely to be held in early January, most probably between Jan. 4 and 9 in either Bangkok or Jakarta.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Indonesia has been the worst hit as the quake's epicenter was in waters off Aceh Province on the northern tip of Sumatra Island.

Southern Thailand and northwestern parts of Malaysia have also been affected with reports of a small number of casualties in Myanmar. Other ASEAN member countries, including Singapore, were spared.

Singapore, the most affluent ASEAN member country, will raise its humanitarian assistance to affected countries to S$5 million (about $3 million) from S$2 million that the government had announced earlier. The amount includes a S$1 million cash donation to the Red Cross -- up from S$500,000 offered earlier. So far, Singapore has sent about 700 military and rescue operations personnel to help in relief efforts, with most of them dispatched to Indonesia.

Although the city-state was left unscathed by the disaster, seven Singaporeans have been killed in Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, another 18 have gone missing.

Lee advised Singaporeans to be psychologically prepared for the worst in terms of the death toll of Singaporeans.

He also said Singapore will tone down its New Year bash and Singapore skies will not be lit up by fireworks this year due out of sympathy for neighboring countries devastated by the disaster.

Source: Agencies