BANGLADESH: Storms lash Bangladesh, killing over 500 people

Storms batter the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka as a cyclone hits the south Asian nation, killing over 500 people. A severe cyclone has killed more than 500 people in Bangladesh and left thousands injured or missing, triggering an international relief effort on Friday (November 16) to help the disaster-prone country cope with its latest disaster. Local officials and Red Crescent workers said 508 deaths had been confirmed. Hundreds more were injured or missing after Cyclone Sidr struck overnight packing winds of 250 kph (155 mph). The Category 4 cyclone triggered a 15-foot (5-metre) high tidal surge that devastated three coastal towns and forced 3.2 million people to evacuate, officials and aid agencies said. "The death count is rising fast as we get more information from the affected districts," a food and disaster ministry said. He put the latest official confirmed death toll at 247. Dhaka, and all other major cities across the country were plunged into darkness at sunset. Many power plants and most distribution systems were damaged by the cyclone and it could take three more days to restore services, power department officials said. Hundreds of fishing boats caught in Cyclone Sidr failed to return to shore, and trees and power poles were uprooted disrupting communication and electricity supplies, officials said. Television news reports said more than 100 fishing boats in the Bay of Bengal had to failed to return to shore despite repeated storm warnings given over the radio. The tidal surge inundated Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalakathi, cutting off communication links to the three towns. An official in Dhaka had no information yet about casualties from the area. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva 1,000 fishermen were missing. Rescued fishermen from Myanmar told Bangladeshi officials that 12 of their compatriots had drowned at sea. They were among a group of fishermen aboard four fishing boats which were smashed into shore by the cyclone, rescuers in Teknaf, a town 500 km (310 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka, said. "Last night a strong storm hit the city. It destroyed our makeshift house and wet all our clothes. At midnight we, together with our children, took shelter at another place," a Dhaka resident, Hazera Begum, said. Cyclones can cause immense devastation in disaster-prone Bangladesh, a low-lying country of more than 140 million people. The latest cyclone triggered 5-metre (16 feet) high water surges in many of the affected districts. It washed away hundreds of thatched homes, destroyed crops and killed livestock. Storms batter the poor south Asian country every year. A severe cyclone killed more than half a million people in 1970, while one in 1991 killed 143,000 people. GP/ASIA/JRC

ITN Source | November 16, 2007

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