Page last updated at 18:44 GMT, Monday, 5 May 2008 19:44 UK
Disaster tests Burma's junta  By Kate McGeown Asia-Pacific
editor, BBC News website  Soldiers use a hand-saw to cut down a
tree blocking a road, 5th May Eyewitnesses complain that the
official response has been inadequate Until Saturday, a common
view among Burmese people was that life could not get much
worse.  The country had been sliding ever deeper into poverty,
and after the anti-government protests in September were
brutally quashed, the prospect of an end to military rule seemed
ever more remote.  Even the junta's planned referendum on its
long-awaited constitution, scheduled to take place on 10 May,
did not sound promising - with accusations of vote-rigging and
intimidation marring the government's claim it would be a step
towards democracy.  But no-one could have predicted there would
be yet another blow in store for the Burmese people - this time
from the forces of nature.  According to the latest government
estimates, more than 10,000 peo