BANGLADESH: Nearly 1,900 dead as villages in Bangladesh lie in ruins after being battered by Cyclone Sidr

The people of Bangladesh pick up the pieces after a super cyclone left nearly 1,900 people dead and scores more injured and missing. Grieving survivors and rescuers picked through the rubble left in the wake of a super cyclone that battered Bangladesh as the death toll neared 1,900 on Sunday (November 18) and a government official declared the disaster "a national calamity". Military ships and helicopters were trying to reach thousands of people believed stranded on islands in the Bay of Bengal and in coastal areas still cut off by the devastating storm. Officials expected the death toll to rise further as the search for hundreds of people missing after Thursday night's (November 15) storm intensified. The disaster ministry in Dhaka had recorded 1,861 deaths by Sunday noon, but local media put the figure at more than 3,000. A much improved disaster preparedness plan has been credited with saving scores of lives. A huge effort was underway to get food, drinking water and shelter to tens of thousands affected by the storm, the worst to hit disaster-prone Bangladesh since 1991 when nearly 143,000 people died. Cyclone Sidr smashed into the country's southern coastline late on Thursday night with 250 kph (155 mph) winds that whipped up a five metre tidal surge. Most of the deaths came from the surge washing away homes and strong winds blowing down dwellings. Many others drowned or were lost at sea. Villagers say diarrhoea is affecting some areas and many complain that they desperately need food and clean water. "The storm with a tidal surge came and I was neck deep in water. It hit my home, destroyed everything and killed my cattle," said Mujibar Rahman, a resident of Jasalida village which was hit by a tidal surge triggered by the cyclone. "During the storm I took my son to a safer place and when I came back I saw my mother under a tree, dead," said Kanan Miah, who lost his mother in the storm. Niru Begum also lost her mother and her house was completely flattened under the force of the cyclone. "We all were taking cover inside our homes and then suddenly our house collapsed and we were all stuck inside. Though we managed to survive, our mother did not. She was left behind inside and we could not save her," she said. Red Crescent officials said some 1,000 fishermen and about 150 boats were still unaccounted for in the Bay of Bengal. Aid officials said damage from the storm, which blew away homes and ripped out trees and power lines, was very severe. Most of Bangladesh was dark on Friday after the electricity grid was knocked out. Parts of Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people, were still without power on Saturday. In many areas, 95 percent of rice crops due to be harvested in a few weeks have been badly damaged, officials said, with hundreds of shrimp farms also washed away.

ITN Source | November 18, 2007

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