Jun 13, 2008 (DVB), A Buddhist commemoration service for those who died when Cyclone Nargis struck Burma on 2-3 May was held in Labutta township in Irrawaddy division yesterday.

The ceremony was held at Sakyar-Marazein pagoda in downtown Labutta and was attended by family members of the cyclone victims who donated a meal, money and items to 46 monks.

U Kyi Win, a people’s parliament representative in Labutta, said the commemoration ceremony was sponsored by the local National League of Democracy and was organised by a high-profile monk known as the Kyaik Htee Yoe abbot.

"We invited family members of the victims who were killed by the cyclone. People from about four villages attended the ceremony and their faces looked so sad," said U Kyi Win.

"In Buddhism, if you die suddenly, you can end up in the wrong place in the afterlife as you probably wouldn’t have had time to get your mind into a peaceful state. That’s why we are making merit today; to help them reach somewhere good."

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet