"Cyclone Nargis was a turning point, " says Andreas List, head of the EU Office in Rangoon.

BBC: Rebuilding Burma's cyclone-hit Irrawaddy Delta

Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar's southern areas in 2008, destroyed entire villages and towns, killing more than 130, 000 people.

WSJ: Cyclone Threatens Bangladesh, Myanmar

The official told him the last celebrity to talk openly about cancer was the late film actress Nargis Dutt.

BBC: Yuvraj Singh cancer memoir 'shares grief'

Yet some sense of normal life is returning, said Mia Marina, a program support manager for World Vision's Nargis response efforts.

CNN: A year after cyclone, a girl remembers

In fact these were victims of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 in Myanmar.

ECONOMIST: India��s north-east

Five years ago, Cyclone Nargis struck Burma's Irrawaddy Delta region, killing at least 140, 000 people and leaving three million in urgent need of assistance.

BBC: Rohingya boats sink off west Burma - many missing

It has risen by a quarter against the baht over the past year, mostly, says Mr Turnell, because of inflows of aid after Cyclone Nargis.

ECONOMIST: Migrant workers battered by the slump

The 33-year-old assailant, identified only as Nargis, arrived at the HQ on Monday looking for the police chief, the governor of Kabul or the head of the criminal investigation department.

BBC: Policewoman who killed US aide in Kabul 'is Iranian'

"It is fortunate that there are still a few days to go before this hits, " said Ms. Mildren, adding that the priority is to "be as prepared as possible" even if the intensity of the cyclone, for now, doesn't seem to be as brutal as with Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

WSJ: Cyclone Threatens Bangladesh, Myanmar