From baptism by cyclone to a nation's fresh start | Bangkok Post: opinion

ASEAN AND MYANMAR

For the past four years, Myanmar has been high on the agenda of my service as secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Barely four months into my five-year term, on May 2, 2008 the ferocity of Cyclone Nargis hit the Delta of the Ayyawadi River, including the commercial capital Yangon.

Supporters cheer Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi during her election campaign in Hlegu township, Yangon, on Wednesday.

By all accounts, over 140,000 lives perished in the wake of the most destructive natural disaster in Myanmar's history. Over four million more in the Delta were teetering on the edge of life and death.