FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

U Thant Institute Launches Fund for Myanmar Cyclone Disaster Survivors

NEW YORK, May 7, 2008 – The U Thant Institute, led by its founder and president Daw Aye Aye Thant, a Myanmar national, today launched the Emergency Myanmar Cyclone Relief Fund to provide immediate and longer term assistance to the cyclone-ravaged nation of Myanmar.

Following the catastrophic destruction unleashed by Cyclone Nargis on May 2, leaving an estimated 60,000 dead and many more thousands missing, the Institute plans to use its Emergency Fund to support and bolster existing survivor care management at the local level.

As the world continues to grapple with the sheer scale of this appalling tragedy, the U Thant Institute is urging its network of members and all sympathetic citizens of the world to donate quickly and generously to the fund (contributions by residents and nationals of the USA are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law). Donations are being accepted online at www.uthantinstitute.org/emcrf-please-donate

You could also write a check payable to UTI/ EMCRF and send to U Thant Institute, 5 Sue Terrace, Westport, CT 06880.

About the U Thant Institute

The U Thant Institute is a non-political, non-sectarian, non-profit organization that promotes the values and ideals of the third Secretary-General of the United Nations. The institute was inaugurated at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on December 3, 2003 by its founder and president, Daw Aye Aye Thant to continue the vision and honor the accomplishments of her late father, Maha Tharay Sithu U Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971.

U Thant, the first Asian Secretary-General, was born in Pantanaw in Delta Region, Myanmar which is believed to have been totally destroyed by Cyclone Nargis.

CONTACTS: Bill Hass, Vice President for Information, U Thant Institute, +1-203-454-7685

Aye Aye Thant , + 1- 203 -341 -0477