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Source: Window International Network www.win1040.com Date: May 9, 2008
Death toll from nation’s worst cyclone ever may reach 100,000 WIN PRAYER ALERT 
 Prayer is critical for military-ruled Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis blasted the country’s western coast onSaturday, May 3, 2008, killing 23,000 people and leaving more than 42,000 others missing.
A top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said this week that the toll from the cyclone and its aftermath may reach 100,000, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Nearly half the country's population, some 24 million people, has been affected by the storm. Since the cyclone hit, the military junta, which has kept the impoverished nation isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control, has been criticized for restricting access to foreign officials and organizations to the country, and aid groups were struggling to deliver relief goods.
The cyclone came a week before a key referendum on a proposed constitution backed by the junta, the AP reported. State radio said the May 10, 2008 vote would be delayed until May 24, 2008 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta. But it indicated the balloting would proceed in other areas as scheduled.  Operation World estimated that Burma is now 8.7 percent Christian, while 70 percent of the Burmese population is Buddhist.
According to the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission, the junta has escalated its efforts—as its official policy states—to “destroy the Christian religion in Burma.” The junta also represses and persecutes the mostly Christian ethnic minorities and is waging a genocidal war against the ethnic Karen in the east. According to Window International Network’s Praying Through The Window 9 prayer calendar, the day of prayer for Myanmar is on day 22. Pray for: - Survivors who are suffering. Pray for humanitarian groups to be able to deliver relief supplies to them in a timely manner.
- God to work through the affliction caused by Cyclone Nargis to deliver Myanmar from its affliction of violent, repressive and totalitarian rule.
- God to open the ears of multitudes of Burmese to the Gospel.
- All Burmese pastors, Christian leaders, teachers and Christians who are fleeing or suffering in terror. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fill the leaders with the wisdom, faith, grace and strength.
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