Some day, Nilar's grandmother will tell her how her family members, and thousands of other people, were killed by a powerful cyclone. The 3-month-old was the youngest of a family of 5, and is now its only survivor.

Nilar will listen to her grandmother's stories of her parents and her siblings, what kind of people they were and what made them special. Those stories will make up all she knows of them.

There will be many such stories told in her small village on the coast of Myanmar, where only half of the 2,000 residents survived Cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

Like most families in this village, Nilar's family made their living as rice paddy farmers. Nilar's grandmother, 70-year-old Daw Pauksee, tells how, on the eve of the cyclone, the wind became more ferocious and the water began to creep inland. Daw Pauksee took the baby and headed to one of the bigger houses in the village.

“It was so messy with the wind and rain. I grabbed the little girl, and her mother followed me. There were other villagers – mostly women – around us. At one point, a big tide took away the girl's mother. Instinctively, I tried to rescue her without letting go of the baby."

Forced to make a terrible choice – between her daughter or her granddaughter – Daw Pauksee clung on to the baby. She was helpless as her daughter was washed away.

When at last they reached the safe house, Nilar had stopped breathing. Daw Pauksee used basic first aid to revive her: “….then the little girl came back to me.”

The two travelled by boat to reach the district centre because they couldn’t stay in their village. Dead bodies were everywhere - those of Nilar's parents and two elder brothers among them - and there weren't enough people fit enough to bury them.

The baby was weakened by hunger and thirst during the journey to safety. Daw Pauksee begged for a bottle of milk to keep Nilar alive.

Since their arrival in the relief camp, many people have asked Daw Pauksee if they can adopt Nilar, but her grandmother won't let her go: “My relatives urged me to give her up, but I can’t do that. She's my hope of living in this world.”

World Vision's Emergency and Preparedness Fund helps people like Daw Pauksee and Nilar, by providing them with emergency food and medical supplies until they can get back on their feet. Nilar has already lost so much. She will need ongoing support so her remaining family can stay together.