BAGUIO CITY – Clueless and anxious over what happened to their relatives and friends after Cyclone “Nargis” hit Burma (Myanmar), some 20 Burmese students here have turned to prayers.

Every day since Nargis left at least 62,000 people dead or missing as it struck the Irrawaddy Delta on May 2, Burmese students in Baguio have been meeting to offer prayers to ease the suffering of their countrymen.

Van Boi Lian, 33, who finished Theology and Social Work at the International Christian College (ICC) here, said they find comfort and strength in prayers.

“Why, oh God? Why our country?” Lian said.

Bowing his head and wiping tears, Lian recalled how he and his friends here were distressed when they saw footage of the cyclone’s aftermath on television.

“We could not sleep for several nights. We keep on thinking about our family and friends. What happened to them? Did they survive? How did they cope? Our spirit was crushed over the bad news. We’re both shocked and confused,” he said.

Lian, who has 50 relatives in Rangoon (Yangon), the hardest hit by the cyclone, said he and his friends here also read the Bible every day in this time of despair and distress.

The communication network in Burma has been down for two weeks now and Lian said it was extremely difficult for Burmese in the Philippines to contact their families through telephone calls or messages relayed through the Internet.

“We [receive] news of our country through BBC. No phone calls. No e-mails. Very hard,” he said.

On Tuesday, however, he received an e-mail from his immediate family members that they survived the typhoon but he was uncertain about the fate of other relatives who live in a fishing village in Rangoon.

Lian showed to the Inquirer a Bible he brought from Burma, which is written in the local language Bama. With a report from Jermaine Beltran, Inquirer Northern Luzon