Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

[Gert van der Hoek]

Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated

(Updates storm's speed, adds details)

By Anis Ahmed

DHAKA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - A super cyclone was bearing down rapidly on Bangladesh's southwest coastline, ripping off tin roofs from houses and uprooting trees, as hundreds of thousands were evacuated to safer ground.

London-based Tropical Storm Risk said Cyclone Sidr was a Category 4 storm, packing winds of 135 knots, and was heading due north on a course that would take it over the heavily populated southern coast and then towards the capital, Dhaka.

"From my window, I can see tins ripped off the roofs and tree branches flying under the sky covered with thick clouds," said Moulvi Feroze Ahmed, a local government official on St. Martin's island in the Bay of Bengal near the storm.

"It looks like the sea is coming to grab us," he said.

Cyclones can cause immense devastation in disaster-prone Bangladesh, a low-lying country of more than 140 million people, particularly from storm surges that can rise as high as 5 metres (16 feet) as severe cyclones make landfall, weather experts say.

The storm started blowing fiercely at 5 p.m. (1100 GMT) at Dublarchar and nearby fishing islands and at the Hiron Point near the Sundarbans at 7 p.m. (1300 GMT), local officials said. The mangrove forests in the Sundarbans are home to the endangered Bengal tigers and the park is a World Heritage site.

Both areas have been hit by winds of up to 160 kph (100 mph), and weather officials told a reporter in nearby Mongla that these speeds could rise above 180 kph in an hour or so.

"Given the current speed, the core of the storm may pass through the Sundarban-Barisal coast into the mainland in about two/three hours, and then lose its strength," said one meteorology official at 1430 GMT.

So far, no loss of life or major property damage has been reported, officials said.

Power and telephone links have been largely cut, but some mobile networks are working sporadically, the reporter said.

Navy officials said many of Dublarchar's nearly 15,000 fishermen were believed to have taken shelter in the Sundarban mangroves, with their boats.

Rivers flowing into the Bay of Bengal along parts of the southern coast have all swollen and are still rising, water department officials said.

Some areas have been inundated by a storm surge of up to 7 feet (2.3 metres), and many thatched homes were swept away, disaster management officials said.

The Bangladesh Meteorology Department said the core of the storm was now about 150 km (90 miles) from the Mongla coast and was expected to make landfall around midnight on Thursday (1800 GMT).

600,000 EVACUATED

Officials at Cox's Bazar, a popular tourist destination, said they had evacuated nearly 200,000 people to about 600 government and private shelters and asked others to move on their own.

Around 400,000 more had been evacuated from other coastal areas, disaster management officials said.

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, which generated a 6-metre storm surge, killed 143,000 people.

Nearly 10 million Bangladeshis live along the southern coast, which usually takes the brunt of cyclones, but the area has shelters for only about half a million.

Chittagong and Mongla ports suspended operations on Wednesday and moved ships to safer areas, port officials said. Chittagong airport suspended flights and moved planes away, officials said.

All schools and colleges in Chittagong and other towns in the storm's path have been shut down and fishing trawlers have been asked to return to port immediately.

The meteorology department raised danger signal number 10, the highest, at Mongla, Bangladesh's second main sea port, and number 9 at Chittagong and Cox's Bazar.

The storm was expected to hit India's West Bengal coast around midnight with wind speeds of up to 200 km per hour, said B.P. Yadav, a senior weather official."We have suggested evacuation of people from the region," he added.

India issued a storm alert for coastal areas of Orissa and West Bengal on Thursday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Paramilitary forces were on standby to deploy to affected areas. (Additional reporting by Serajul Islam Quadir in Dhaka, Bappa Majumdar in Kolkata, Biman Mukherji and C.K. Nayak in New Delhi and Reuters stringers in Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Barisal and Khulna; editing by Roger Crabb)

http://wap.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP315166.htm?=amp&_lite_=1

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated

Bangladesh cyclone kills 250

Fri Nov 16, 2007

DHAKA (Reuters) - A cyclone killed more than 250 people in Bangladesh, triggering a 15-feet (5-metre) high water surge that devastated three coastal towns with a combined population of 700,000, officials said on Friday.

"The death count is rising fast as we get more information from the affected districts," an official at the food and disaster ministry said.

"It may go much higher."

The towns of Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalakathi were inundated by the surge on Thursday night, cutting off communication links. A government official in Dhaka said there was no immediate information about casualties from the area.

Elsewhere, officials said more than 200 deaths have already been confirmed while hundreds more were injured or missing following the cyclone, which struck overnight packing winds of 250 kph (155 mph).

Storms batter the poor south Asian country every year and a severe cyclone killed more than half a million people in 1970, while another in 1991 killed 143,000.

The latest storm triggered water surges in many of the affected districts, washing away hundreds of thatched homes, destroying crops and killing livestock.

Hundreds of fishing boats caught in the cyclone failed to return to shore, while trees and power poles were uprooted, disrupting communication and electricity supplies.

"We have been virtually blacked out all over the country," said a disaster management official in southern Mongla, another of the worst affected areas.

Television news reports said more than 100 fishing boats in the Bay of Bengal had failed to return to shore despite repeated storm warnings given over the radio. Many boats, however, may have been small vessels without such equipment.

The storm blew past India's eastern coast without causing much damage, police and weather officials there said on Friday.


"There will be some rain and the sky will remain overcast for sometime," said G.C. Debnath, a senior weather department official.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/art...1_DHA312845_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BANGLADESH-STORM.xml

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 250 killed

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 250 killed

Sidr wreaks havoc in coastal region; at least 425 killed, thousands injured

UNB, Dhaka

At least 425 people were killed and thousands injured in 18 districts as the powerful cyclone Sidr lashed the country's south and south-western regions last night.

The terrible tropical storm that packed speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour, made landfall in the Barisal-Khulna belt last night, flattening tens of thousands of houses and uprooting numerous trees.


"The hurricane crossed the coast at 3:00am early today (Friday) and was now lying over the southern and central parts of Bangladesh as a land depression this morning," a latest meteorological office bulletin said.


A total blackout gripped the country after Thursday midnight as all power stations tripped under the impact of the hurricane.

more:

http://www.thedailystar.net/latest/updates.php?pid=-97

 

[Snowy Owl]

Over 700 killed as cyclone wreaks havoc

Over 700 killed as cyclone wreaks havoc

Over 700 killed as cyclone wreaks havoc
Death toll may cross 1,000; all communications, utility services snapped; thousands missing; houses, crops, trees destroyed; lakhs homeless
Syed Ashfaqul Haque and Julfikar Ali Manik

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(Top) Grim-faced victims of Sidr look around the trail of destruction at Kanainagar of Mongla, Bagerhat, yesterday. (Photo: AFP); (bottom) FROM LEFT? Residents of a house mangled in storm at Kandipara of Maoa in Munshiganj removing debris yesterday. Hurricane Sidr lashed the region Thursday night. An elephant engaged in clearing a Barisal road pushes a damaged bus. A merchant vessel lashed by Sidr sinks in the Passur river in Mongla. The photo was taken yesterday. (Photo: Star/AP/Focus Bangla) ​

</td></tr></tbody></table>Bangladesh dated with a nightmare as cyclone Sidr ripped through the southwestern coast late Thursday, killing over 700 people and demolishing houses, crops, vegetables and trees alike along its trail of devastation over an area of thousands of square kilometers.

Packing winds over 220km an hour, the fierce tropical storm roared across the shoreline after it hit landfall at the Khulna-Barisal coast at 7:30pm Thursday, cutting off all communications and utility services across the country.

?I've never seen anything like this in my 47 years life,? Khalilur Rahman, a government official in Patuakhali, told The Daily Star over telephone last night. ?It was a panic beyond description. People found no way but to keep on screaming as long as the cyclone ran rampage here.?

One of the fiercest cyclones in the history of the land, the Sidr rode

on wailing winds, driving rains and tidal surges to wreak havoc for over 14 hours before moving to Asam and Tripura through the Sylhet border, turning into a well-marked low yesterday.

?Eyes of the cyclone crossed the Boleshar river near Sundarbans and then razed across southern districts before approaching towards Dhaka through Faridpur,? said a Met official. ?Gradually weakening, the cyclone then headed towards the Sylhet border at 10 in the morning today (Friday) leaving its marks on Comilla and Mymensingh.?

Despite having carried out a commendable evacuation effort, the government last night found itself reeling from shock as the number of deaths and extent of damage continued to increase with every passing hour.

In a rather awkward manner, the food and disaster management ministry told the press in the afternoon that about 233 people were killed but left out death tolls in two most-affected districts--- Borguna and Jhalakathi. However, the same briefing stated that Red Crescent found 118 dead so far in Barguna alone.

But within hours at 12 midnight, an official at the food and disaster management ministry's control room raised the death figure to 700, with maximum 177 killed in Patuakhali. However, quoting unofficial sources, Our Correspondent in Patuakhali, reported death of 490 people.

But finds of newsmen and different private sources till filing of this report early morning today revealed that the death toll is destined to climb up to 1,000 as rescuers and volunteers could not yet reach most of the worst-hit areas.

Meanwhile, no information on causalities could be gathered from numerous remote islands (chars), residents of which mostly turned a deaf ear to government's evacuation alert.

?Tidal waves swept away many people from Dublar Char in Bagerhat?, Red Crescent worker Abul Kashem Dulal told our correspondent in Barisal. Of them, bodies of 17 people could be recovered.

The government could provide shelter for around 15 lakh people in 2168 shelter houses, leaving around 33 lakh people in the coastal areas in vulnerable situation.

Casualties apart, the Patuakhali district also suffered most in the farm sector. ?The crop loss should be no less than Tk 497 crore in the seven upazilas,? he said, quoting a rough estimate of a deputy director of agriculture extension department in Patuakhali.

The Patuakhali town went under knee-deep waters as tidal surges 6-7 feet higher than normal ones sped through the locality. At least seven other southern districtsBarguna, Jhalakathi, Pirojpur, Bhola, Madaripur, Barisal and Bagerhat suffered nearly the same fate of Patuakhali.

However, the actual extent of destruction in Bagerhat could not be known till filing of this report as a very few could reach areas like Sharankhola near the worst-hit Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.

?Hundreds of trees lying on the roads and fields give a picture of massive damage,? said Raphael Palma, communications manager of World Vision Bangladesh, a non-government organisation.

Palma, who yesterday visited Mongla, said the locals are saying they lived through the cyclone of 1988 but it was no match to this cyclone. ?The roaring wind was not as devastating as this one.?

The casualties could be much higher if not the local administration warned people about the imminent disaster, he observed.

As per the government count, 44 people died in Bagerhat. But unofficial sources put the number at 133, of which 90 were killed in Sharankhola upazila alone.

The volunteers and rescuers painted an even grimmer picture of the shocking event, which also left thousands injured. Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed too rushed to some southern districts in an effort to buck up the spirit of cyclone-victims.

But it will take weeks to assess the actual death toll, financial loss and days to reach relief to people who are forced to live overnight under the open sky, rescuers and volunteers said, almost in identical words.

People in lakhs are staying under the open sky with hardly any foods in their possession, thousand remained missing, embankments broke down in many areas, scores of livestock killed, and unknown number of persons was swept away by tidal surges.

However, the devastation could have been much higher if the cyclone, originally predicted to be heading for the shores of Orissa near Paradip, made landfall during the high tide hours at around 3:00am on Friday.

?Had the high tide and cyclone taken place at the same time the damage would have tripled,? said an expert.

According to the midnight update of the government, 177 were killed in Patuakhali, 134 in Pirojpur, 133 in Bagerhat, 78 in Barisal, 35 in Barguna, 32 in Jhlakathi, 25 in Gopalganj, 20 in Bhola, 15 in Shariatpur,12 in Khulna, 10 in Faridpur, four each in Chandpur and Dhaka, three in Sathkhira, one each in Laxmipur, Chittagong, and Jessore.

However, the government briefing in the afternoon stated 19 people were killed in Madaripur, two in Narayanganj, and one each in Noakhali and Chandpur.


Related News
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Trail of destruction in southern districts
UN bodies, EU, NGOs launch relief operations
Move fast to meet cyclone victims' need
Sidr was one of the fiercest cyclones
Cyclone ravages 95pc crops in 11 districts

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=11990
City life disrupted

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 250 killed

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 250 killed

Bangladesh Cyclone Death Crosses 1700

11/17/2007 12:19:30 PM Saturday, Brig. Gen. Qazi Abedus Samad, director of operations Bangladesh armed forces, said cyclone deaths hit 1700 mark. As per the official figures, the toll reached 1723 so far and is expected to rise.


Another 15,000 people have been injured and thousands are displaced and missing. The armed forces of the country is working to provide shelter to the displaced. The government held an emergency Cabinet meeting on Saturday to assess the disaster and discuss recovery issues.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was expected to approve plans to send up to three amphibious warships, with up to 3,500 Marines, to locations off the coast of Bangladesh to assist in relief efforts.

http://www.rttnews.com/FOREX/politicalnews.asp?date=11/17/2007&item=15

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 1700 killed

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 1700 killed

Bangladesh Cyclone Kills at Least 1,723

By PARVEEN AHMED

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? Hundreds of thousands of survivors were trapped Saturday behind roads blocked by fallen trees, iron roofs and thick sludge as rescue workers fought to reach towns along Bangladesh's coast that were ravaged by a powerful cyclone that killed at least 1,723 people.

Tropical Cyclone Sidr, the deadliest storm to hit the country in a decade, destroyed tens of thousands of homes in southwest Bangladesh on Thursday and ruined much-needed crops just before harvest season in this impoverished, low-lying South Asian country. More than a million coastal villagers were forced to evacuate to government shelters.

The official death toll rose to 1,723 and authorities feared the figure could rise further as the country works to recover.

The government scrambled Saturday to join international agencies and local officials in the rescue mission, deploying military helicopters, thousands of troops and naval ships.

Rescuers trying to get food and water to people stranded by flooding struggled to clear roads that were so bad they said they'll have to return on bicycles.

"We will try again tomorrow on bicycles, and hire local country boats," M. Shakil Anwar of CARE said from the city of Khulna.

Along the coast, 150 mph winds flung small ferries ashore like toy boats, cutting off migrant fishing communities who live on and around hundreds of tiny islands across the area's web of river channels.

Many of the evacuees who managed to return home Saturday found their straw and bamboo huts had been flattened by the storm.

"We survived, but what we need now is help to rebuild our homes," Chand Miah, a resident of Maran Char, a small island in Khulna district, told The Associated Press.

The government has allocated $5.2 million in emergency aid for rebuilding houses in the cyclone-affected areas, a government statement said.

The German government offered $731,345 while the European Union released $2.2 million in relief aid. The World Food Program was rushing food to the country.

Bangladesh's interim government head, Fakhruddin Ahmed, visited some of the affected areas Friday and Saturday and assured cyclone victims of government assistance.

Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed, meanwhile, was expected to visit some of the worst-hit areas in coming days.

Aid organizations feared that food shortages and contaminated water could lead to widespread problems if people remain stranded.

Television images showed crowds of people scrambling beneath military helicopters as troops dropped food packages through open hatches.

At least 1.5 million coastal villagers had fled to shelters where they were given emergency rations, said senior government official Ali Imam Majumder in Dhaka.

Many parts of Dhaka, the biggest city in this poor, desperately crowded nation of 150 million people, remained without power or water Saturday. The storm killed at least four people in Dhaka.

More than 4,000 people were injured, military spokesman Lt. Col. Moyeenullah Chowdhury said. Army medical teams were working in the affected area.

An estimated 2.7 million people were affected and 773,000 houses were damaged, according to the Ministry of Disaster Management. Roughly 250,000 head of cattle and poultry perished, and crops were destroyed on nearly 77,450 acres of land.

But the full picture of the devastation remained unclear as the storm wreaked havoc on the country's electricity and telephone lines, affecting even areas that were spared a direct hit.

Sidr spawned a 4-foot storm surge that swept through low-lying areas and some offshore islands, leaving them under water, said Nahid Sultana, an official of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.

CARE's Anwar said many surviving families were living under makeshift tents or sheds made out of the remnants of their straw and bamboo homes, while many others had to go back to the official shelters.

Bangladesh is prone to cyclones and floods that cause huge losses of life and property. The most recent deadly storm was a tornado that leveled 80 villages in northern Bangladesh in 1996, killing 621 people.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jY0QrS8yNcOHGn_pvMb7pzUoNzbwD8SVHPK80

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 1700 killed

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, thousands evacuated, 1700 killed

[SIZE=+1]UN rushes biscuits to 400,000 victims of Cycle Sidr[/SIZE]
<SMALL>Malaysia Sun
Friday 16th November, 2007 </SMALL>

​

Responding to the arrival of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Friday announced the distribution of enough high-energy biscuits, considered vital in the early days of an emergency when cooking is impossible, to feed 400,000 people in the affected areas over the next three days.

?We have to move as quickly as possible to get food to the most vulnerable,? said WFP Bangladesh Representative Douglas Broderick, pointing out that the biscuits are critical ?when there is a scarcity of clean water for drinking and cooking.?

Citing preliminary field reports, WFP said Cyclone Sidr caused hundreds of fatalities, damaged thousands of homes and forced thousands of residents to evacuate.

Within hours of the disaster, the agency started supplying the biscuits to affected people in areas that suffered the worst damage in what WFP said was the first phase of its assistance.

The agency said it is able to respond quickly to disasters and humanitarian crises in Bangladesh because it has ongoing operations there to support some 5 million people affected by chronic food insecurity and malnutrition.

In New York, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said the UN would make available ?several million dollars? for Bangladesh from the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), which was set up to expedite aid operations for emergencies.

?We will do all that we can to help, subject to what the Government of Bangladesh would like us to do,? he told a press briefing.

The UN would launch with the Government a joint assessment of the damage and needs, while the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Regional Office for Asia-Pacific has established a task force to deal with the cyclone, and its team would arrive in Dhaka tomorrow, he said.

Waves up to 5 meters high inundated ?almost completely? three coastal towns with a combined population of some 700,000 people, he said, adding that more than 20,000 houses were estimated damaged in the worst-hit districts, where at least 30,000 families were severely affected. He said these figures could well be revised upwards as more information comes in.

?Clearly it was an extremely taxing experience for the people affected, a very traumatic experience for many of them, even for people used to cyclones, as the people of that area are,? he said. ?We don?t know what the death toll will be but clearly the damage ? the damage to livelihoods, the damage to housing, the damage to crops, will be extremely severe.?

The Emergency Relief Coordinator emphasized the progress that had been achieved on cutting the impact of cyclones on Bangladesh.

The cyclone had been tracked as it approached the country and some 3.2 million people were evacuated to relatively safe places before it hit. ?This preparedness did contribute to saving lives when the cyclone hit,? he said.

?The death tolls have been reduced dramatically from these kinds of events,? he noted, pointing out that a cyclone in 1970 killed between 300,000 and 400,000 people, while another in 1991 took the lives of 130,000 to 140,000.

?We don?t know what the death toll from this will be but it looks likely to be nothing like as big as those, even though it may have been a meteorological event of a similar size.?:tiphat: http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/303b19022816233b/id/300758/cs/1/

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

Up to 10,000 dead, millions homeless in Bangladesh: officials

Monday Nov 19 07:52 AEDT

Up to 10,000 people are dead and millions homeless and hungry in cyclone-hit Bangladesh, officials said Sunday, as the army and aid workers battled to reach the country's devastated coast.

Three days after cyclone Sidr tore into one of the world's poorest nations from the Bay of Bengal, rescue workers were still fighting their way through a landscape of flattened villages and traumatised crowds.

Survivors on the isolated southern coast, where many areas were still out of reach for aid convoys, warned they would soon die unless help arrived.

"I lost six of my family members in the cyclone. I am afraid that the rest three of us will die of hunger. We are without food and water for the last few days," said a 55-year-old farmer, Sattar Gazi.

"For the corpses, we don't even have clothes to wrap them in for burial... we are wrapping the bodies in leaves," he told AFP in a village situated on the Bay of Bengal coastline and smashed by a six-metre high tidal wave.

Abdul Zabbar, a 50-year-old teacher, said the situation in the area ? already one of the most impoverished places on earth was unbearable.

"There is no food and drinking water. Bodies are still floating in the rivers and paddy fields," he said, adding the rice harvest ? or four months of food had been washed away.

Victims told an AFP correspondent who managed to reach this coastal area that they had not seen any aid workers, let alone a plane or helicopter.

Officials said the humanitarian situation in coastal districts like Barguna, 200 kilometres south of the capital Dhaka, was catastrophic.

"I have never seen such a catastrophe in my 20 years as a government administrator," said district official Harisprasad Pal.

Squadron Leader Farhad Hossain Mahmud of the army control room said the latest confirmed death toll stood at 3,113.

"It may cross 5,000, but it will remain below 10,000," the chairman of the Bangladeshi Red Crescent Society, the country's central humanitarian organisation, told AFP.

Officials have stressed they expect many more victims will be found in remote areas, including around poor fishing villages in the string of small islands off the coast.

Aid efforts were being hampered by roads blocked by fallen trees and the sheer scale of the devastation.

"In the remote areas it is slow-going, they are almost chopping trees as they go along," said Douglas Casson Coutts of the World Food Programme, adding that officials were working with the military to organise air drops to the most inaccessible districts.

Red Cross and Red Crescent workers said they were using their network of volunteers to distribute dried food and plastic sheeting for temporary shelters, but that many helpers were themselves victims.

"Our estimate is that 900,000 families are affected," said Red Cross official Shafiquzzaman Rabbani.

That figure amounts to roughly seven million people ? no small task for the army helicopters and navy ships sent out to distribute food, medicine and relief materials.

Most of the deaths were caused by the tidal wave which engulfed coastal villages, as well as flying debris and falling trees that crushed flimsy bamboo and tin homes, all that most people in Bangladesh can afford.

A stunned 25-year-old woman, Jahanara, recounted how she managed to cling to a tree as the storm ripped away everything around her, including her husband, two sons and mother, and even the clothes on her back.

Messages of condolence have been pouring in from abroad and pledges of aid are increasing, providing hope that the relief operation will soon swing into high gear.

The United States said Sunday it was sending two million dollars, with the European Commission and individual EU members also offering similar sums.

Bangladesh was also taking stock of the ecological cost with the Sunderbans, the world's biggest mangrove forest and home to the endangered Royal Bengal tiger, taking the brunt of the storm.

"The cyclone has inflicted an ecological disaster," said Shanti Ranjan Das of the government's livestock department.

The vast mangrove forest, listed as a World Heritage Site by the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, is a natural tide barrier crucial to the long-term survival of coastal communities.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=326172

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

Death toll rises to 10,000 : Air-borne relief operation underway: Thousands of troops, volunteers deployed; Tk. 35 cr allocated so far, UN aid over $6m expectedMany parts of Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people, were still without power and water supply yesterdaySunday November 18 2007 08:05:24 AM BDTThe confirmed total death toll in the affected areas, where the super severe cyclone Sidr had hit, rose to 3,018 while 12,500 persons were injured and 57 others remained missing till 11:30pm yesterday.(New NationBD)However, unoffical sources claimed the death figures would be even higher and may reach 10,000 and the number of injured thrice the death figure, according to the dispatches sent yesterday by reporters from the devastated areas.Most of the deaths were caused by drowing in tidal surge and collapsing houses and falling trees. Armed Forces Division at a press briefing said that as many as 93 maritime vessels with crew sunk in the cyclone hit regions. Of these five were ships, 73 trawlers and 25 passenger launches. In the coastal areas of the worst hit districts, inummerable corpses are seen floating in the sea, rivers and other water bodies, while the survivors wailing for their lost dear ones and passing their days without food or drinking water in anticiaption of receivng relief under the open sky. Meanwhile, thousands of volunteers and members of the Armed Forces have were launched a massive rescue and relief operation from Friday. The number of Armed Forces personnel pressed into service was raised further yesterday, when 3,000 more troops were desptached for the operation in addition to those already stationed in the affected areas. The Red Crescent Society deployed about 42,000 volunteers, while major NGOs and local administration the rest.Military ships and helicopters were trying to reach thousands of survivors in the remote islands of the Bay of Bengal amid rough waters yesterday. The Armed Forces? ship and helicopters, equipped with sufficient dry food, drinking water, medicines and medical supplies, are the only hope for the survivors of these areas, according to reports recived in the capital last night. Navy ships scoured the coastal areas for hundreds of people reported missing and to clear river channels clogged with sunken vessels. Helicopters flew sorties to the devastated areas, dropping food, drinking water and medicine for the survivors.The storm Sidr generated on November 12 coincided with the century?s worst cyclone on the same day in 1970 that killed about a million people in the coastal areas.The cyclone, which followed devastating floods in July and September that killed more than 1,000, gave a severe blow to the country?s economy which is suffering from serious price hike and inflation.Cyclone SIDR smashed into the country's southern coastline late Thursday night with a wind speed of 185 to 250 killometres per hour (kmph) depending on distance of the areas covered by its eye. The cyclone ravaged the Dublar Char and part of the Sundarbans at a windspeed of 250 kmph, whipping up a 20 feet tidal surge, weather experts said. The radius of the massive cyclone, which had the same destructive strength of the Hurricane Caterina, passed through central parts of the country, hitting 34 of the country?s 64 districts. Eleven of the 15 coastal districts were hit hard. Of these five districts were ravaged most.?We could not find a single family, which has not lost a member in the worst ravaged areas,? a reporter told over military wirless last night.Standing aman and robi crop of at least a few millions hacters of land were totally smashed and tens of thousands of houses destroyed. Electricity supply and telecommunications could not be restored till yesterday.?It will take several days to complete the search and know the actual casualty figure and extent of damage to property,? Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Secretary Mohammad Ayub Miah told journalists.Chief Adviser?s Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munayem said the Tk 35 crore in cash was sent to the most affected districts yesterday from the Chief Adviser?s Relief Fund.Chief Adviser Dr Fakruddin Ahmed along with Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed visited a number of affected districts for the second day yesterday. They talked to the victims and distrbuted relief materials.Top leaders of different political parties, including the BNP and the Awami League, asked their activists across the country to stand by the cyclone victims in full force. Aid officials described the damage from the storm, which blew away homes and ripped trees and power lines, as extremely severe. Most of the country plunged into darkness on Friday after the electricity grid was knocked out.Many parts of Dhaka, the capital city of 10 million people, were still without power and water supply yesterday.Red Crescent and local administration officials said some 3,500 fishermen were still unaccounted for in the Bay of Bengal, on about 150 boats. Fishing community leaders in Cox's Bazar and Barisal said they still expected some missing crew to return to the shore.The Sundarbans, home to the endangered Royal Bengal tigers and a World Heritage site, took the brunt of the latest storm and forest officials said many animals would have died.The category 4 cyclone devastated three coastal towns - Patuakhali, Barguna, Bagerhat and Jhalakathi - and forced 3.2 million people to evacuate. It lost strength after landfall and passed over the country early on Friday, weather officials said. http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=177827

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

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Red Crescent fears toll may top 10,000


Crisis of drinking water; relief inadequate; diarrhoea, hunger spread


[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Monday November 19 2007 00:21:44 AM BDT[/FONT]


The Cyclone Sidr apparently held the real degree of its destruction in store for the nation until yesterday, four days into the catastrophe, with the government gradually raising the death toll to 2,299 and Red Crescent fearing(Daily StarBD)

causalities as high as 10,000.

"We have already identified 2,750 bodies. Based on our experience in the past and reports from the scene, I would suggest the death toll may be as high as 10,000," said Prof M Abdur Rob, chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, told the press in city yesterday.

The government rescuers could recover 515 more bodies in 24 hours from 1:30am Sunday, with Barguna overtaking Bagerhat on top of the causalities list with 717 people.

Shell-shocked survivors and rescuers yesterday picked through the cyclone ruins in the worst-hit southern districts as thousands of victims awaited relief amid their wrecked homes, crops, livestock and fields. They sobbed in agony, suffered in hunger, thirst and diarrhoea. They buried dear ones and searched in vain for the answer why fate conspired against them.

Reacting to the Red Crescent concern, which deployed around 42,000 volunteers in the coastal areas, Mohammad Aiyub Miah, acting secretary to the food and disaster management ministry said, ?It is hard to guess what could be the possible number of causalities. But we can assure that we will instantly update all on the death toll, whatever grave it turned out to be.?

The government expects to prepare an estimate of damage by the end of this week, as the extent of destruction was too severe. ?We have been taken aback with the catastrophe in some remote, inaccessible areas. It will take time for us to get an idea of the actual loss there,? Aiyub Miah told The Daily Star last night.

The government hoped to place a detailed report on causalities and financial loss at the meeting with donors, who already pledged around $25 million in aid, next week.

Meanwhile, people of Barguna, where death toll doubled overnight, found no end to their miseries. Staying out under the open sky, thousands of survivors are now begging for a glass of water, forgetting about the inadequate relief and shelters.

?We used to rely on tubewells and ponds for drinking water. All the 16 tubewells in my union parishad went out of order and ponds became reservoirs of salty waters after the tidal surge,? said Sultan Mahmud, chairman of a Noltona union parishad over phone last evening.

Reports on scarcity of relief also reported from different parts of the storm-hit districts. About 30,000 people were affected out of 36,000 residents at Sultan's union. ?We received so far from the government relief of 10 metric tone rice and Tk 10,000 which could be distributed among 2,500 people,? he said.

The disaster management control room updated its rough estimate of losses caused by Sidr that will be a severe blow to the economy, which is already suffering huge losses from back-to-back floods in the middle of this year. The cyclone left its mark of devastation on 133 upazilas, 962 unions, affecting 31.44 lakh population of about 8.87 lakh families. The storm also killed 2.42 lakh livestock and completely destroyed crops on 23,122-acre land including six lakh metric tons of Aman. According to the estimate, 2.73 lakhs houses were totally flattened. Meanwhile, the fierce cyclone also totally damaged 58km roads and partially 1363km.

The shrimp farms at the badly-hit Morolgonj and Sharankhola upazilas in Bagherhat were extensively damaged, with the financial loss should be no less than Tk 500cr.

According to the latest government toll, the cyclone killed 717 in Barguna, 610 in Bagerhat, 330 in Patuakhali, 285 in Pirojpur, 85 in Barisal, 34 in Jhalakathi, 38 in Madaripur, 31 in Bhola, 29 in Gopalganj, 17 in Shariatpur, 16 in Satkhira, 15 in Khulna, 11 in Faridpur, four each in Dhaka, Chandpur, and Munshiganj, and two each in Laxmipur, and Narayanganj, one each in Jessore, Chittagong, Rajbari, Narsingdi, and Narail.

Meanwhile, echoing concern of Red Crescent, different non-government organisations also urged the international community to stand by disaster-hit Bangladeshis. ?These people are very poor and have lost everything. Their need will be very high, and we don't believe the Bangladesh government can help all of them,? said a top man in international relief agency.

The international community also hailed government's disaster preparedness, which greatly helped reduced causalities as well as losses. However Juliet Parker of Christian Aid cautioned, ?These preparedness saved lives but not livelihoods.? :tiphat: http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidRecord=177866

 

[Niko]

Bangladesh death toll hits 15,000

Bangladesh death toll hits 15,000

Bangladesh cyclone death toll hits 15,000


By Peter Foster, South Asia correspondent
Last Updated: 1:40am GMT 19/11/2007

<!--NO VIEW-->
Up to 15,000 people were killed and seven million lives left devastated by the cyclone in Bangladesh last week, aid agencies have said as the full extent of the disaster became clear.

<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" hspace="0" width="408"><tbody><tr><td rowspan="2" width="8"> </td><td width="400"><center>

</center></td></tr><tr><td class="caption"><center>In the worst affected districts, 90 pc of homes and 95 pc of rice crops and valuable prawn farms were obliterated by the winds

</center></td></tr></tbody></table>The Bangladeshi Red Crescent Society, the country's main humanitarian group, said that more than 3,000 bodies had already been recovered from villages shattered by Cyclone Sidr's 150mph winds.
While the official death toll remains low, Save the Children last night said that it feared that 15,000 people could have died while the Red Crescent estimated around 10,000.

An international relief effort, supported by donations from the UN, Britain, US and Europe, was slowly grinding into gear yesterday as the International Red Cross estimated 900,000 families had been affected.

**snipped**
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/19/wcyclone119.xml

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

Homeless millions go hungry: Thousands of rescuers, Army personnel struggling to reach relief to the survivors

Millions were rendered homeless and hungry in the twelve coastal districts, ravaged by super cyclone Sidr on Thursday and Friday, while thousands of rescuers, including military personnel, are struggling to reach relief materials for the second consecutive day, yesterday.

Innumurable bodies of the storm victims and cattleheads were still floating on the shore of the Bay of Bengal and in the rivers of coastal districts. The severe cyclone had badly hit 20 districts, including 12 on the coast and 34 of the 64 districts of the country were affected.

Total number of affected families are 17 million.

The death toll has been jumping by hundreds at a time as rescuers fight their way to remote areas where entire villages were flattened by the fury of Cyclone SIDR, which tore through southern part of the country and at least three districts in the mainland.

The Red Crescent officials said in the morning that the death figure would be much higher than 10,000 already reported. The number of injured and missing persons are thrice the death figure.

Our Bagerhat Correspondent Shaikh Abdul Jalil reported from the affected area last evening that over 1,300 persons died alone in different parts of Sharankhola upazila of the district.

Members of the Armed Forces are trying to reach the victims by Navy ships and boats, Air Force and Army helicopters, are supplying dry food, drinking water and medicines.

Our Barisal Correspondent reported that aid workers' supply was minimal to meet the high demand of drinking water, dry food, fuel and medicine in the affcted areas.

- snip -

more http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2007/11/19/news0475.htm

 

[Niko]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

<table class="Story" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="419"><tbody><tr><td class="articleName">US Sends Help to Bangladesh</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="articleName"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="articleIntro"> <block> </block>(AP) WASHINGTON - The White House offered condolences Saturday evening to victims of a deadly cyclone in Bangladesh and said the U.S. government has provided an initial $2.1 million in emergency relief aide.

A statement from press secretary Dana Perino said the USS Essex and the USS Kearsage are en route to Bangladesh to help and that the U.S. will airlift 35 tons of non-food items such as plastic sheeting, jerricans, hygiene kits and other supplies.

She said an 18-person Defense Department medical team that was in the country prior to the storm will help with current medical needs.
**snipped**

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S261192.shtml?cat=146






UN appeals for aid to "grim" Bangladesh disaster

Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:21pm GMT

<script language="javascript"> var storyKeywords = ""; var RTR_ArticleTitle = "UN appeals for aid to "grim" Bangladesh disaster"; var RTR_ArticleBlurb = " ROME, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations' food aid agency has appealed for more aid to help save lives in Bangladesh where nearly 2,600 people were killed by cyclone Sidr. "Thousands of poor families have been devastated due to the loss of..."; </script><script type="text/javascript"> var showComments = false; function singlePageView() { document.location.href = ReplaceQueryStringParam(document.location.href, "sp", "true"); } function replaceString(oldS, newS, fullS) { // Replaces oldS with newS in the string fullS for (var i = 0; i < fullS.length; i++) { if (fullS.substring(i, i + oldS.length) == oldS) { fullS = fullS.substring(0, i) + newS + fullS.substring(i + oldS.length, fullS.length); } } return fullS; } </script> <input value="13" name="CurrentSize" id="CurrentSize" type="hidden"> <script language="javascript" src="http://uk.reuters.com/resources/js/shareStub.js"></script><script language="javascript" src="http://uk.reuters.com/resources/js/shareFunctions.js"></script>


ROME, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations' food aid agency has appealed for more aid to help save lives in Bangladesh where nearly 2,600 people were killed by cyclone Sidr.

"Thousands of poor families have been devastated due to the loss of their crops, livestock and in some cases, family members," said Douglas Broderick of the U.N. World Food Programme.

A 12-person U.N. team is visiting Bangladesh to assess the damage and aid requirements. "The initial assessment reports describe the situation as `grim and serious' warranting the launch of a more comprehensive appeal for assistance," the WFP said. It did not specify the amount of aid required.

The food agency has been dropping high energy biscuits from helicopters to people stranded in inaccessible areas. So far it has delivered food aid to 650,000 people.

The government estimates some 3 million survivors who were either evacuated from the low-lying southern coast or whose homes and villages were destroyed will need support.

Aid workers fear inadequate supplies of food, drinking water and medicine could lead to outbreaks of disease.

"We plan to continue our food assistance over the coming weeks and are actively assessing the needs for the coming months," said Broderick.

"We urge donors to step forward to provide immediate funding." (Reporting by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUKL19138971._CH_.242020071119
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[Treyfish]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

Bangladesh: Threat of disease looms over isolated communities
23 November 2007

Thousands of cyclone survivors are at risk of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea unless they receive immediate access to clean water, warned the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

According to Selva Sinnadurai, Head of the International Federation?s Bangladesh delegation, Red Crescent volunteers and staff are still struggling to reach some of the more remote communities affected by Cyclone Sidr, seven days since the storm smashed into Bangladesh?s coast.

?This is of real concern as many people have had nothing to eat or clean water to drink since the storm hit,? Sinnadurai said. ?We?re worried that they may soon resort to drinking from contaminated water sources, which could lead to major diarrhoea outbreaks. In one district there have already been deaths reported.?

Red Cross Red Crescent assessments suggest that many water sources, particularly those nearer the coast have been contaminated by salt water. In addition, dead human bodies and animal carcasses have been found in a number of water ponds, causing survivors to avoid them. As a result, many people have to walk long distances to find clean drinking water, a task that will become more challenging without relief assistance.

In an effort to overcome some of these logistical challenges, the British Red Cross has sent a logistics emergency response unit (ERU) to Dhaka that is expected to arrive today.

Latest government figures suggest that 2,837 people have been confirmed dead, with a further 2,176 missing and 18,558 injured. In all, 5,488,216 people have been affected with 458,429 houses completely destroyed. The storm also wiped out more than 150,000 acres of crops and killed more than 350,000 heads of livestock.

So far, the Bangladesh Red Crescent, with support from the International Federation, has distributed food and water, as well as family kits, plastic sheets and clothes to thousands of families in some of the worst affected areas. Eight Red Crescent medical teams have also been sent out to the field, with a further ten on their way. An International Federation Field Assessment Coordination Team (FACT) has returned to Dhaka having completed a detailed evaluation of the extent of damage, needs of survivors and the hazards they face.

Last week, the International Federation launched a preliminary emergency appeal for 4 million Swiss francs ($3.6 million US/ ?2.4 million) to assist 235,000 people affected by the devastating storm. A revised appeal will be launched in the next 24 hours and will take into account the longer-term needs of cyclone survivors says Al Panico, the head of the International Federation?s delegation in South Asia.

?When a disaster like Sidr strikes, it doesn?t only cause loss of life and property,? explained Al Panico, the International Federation?s regional representative for South Asia. ?It can also take away, or threaten, the livelihoods and future of those who have survived. Helping communities to recover - to rebuild homes, lives and livelihoods - is complex but essential work that continues long after emergency relief has been provided.? :tiphat:
http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/pr07/7207.asp

 

[Niko]

Re: Storm lashes Bangladesh coast, millions homeless, thousands dead

Bangladesh cyclone: Now food shortage threatens millions<!--proximic_content_off-->

<!--proximic_content_on-->Lack of shelter and clean water could kill many more, aid agency warns. By Andrew Buncombe<!--proximic_content_off-->

Published: 25 November 2007

<!--proximic_content_on-->For the people of Bangladesh, there seems little respite from poverty and misery, some of it the result of man and much of it the work of nature.

<!--proximic_content_off--> <!--proximic_content_on--> With aid teams still trying to get emergency supplies to those affected by Cyclone Sidr ? a massive storm that struck 10 days ago, killing 3,200 ? officials have said up to three million people risk being short of food for the next six months. The storm, the biggest for more than a decade, destroyed between 50 and 90 per cent of the region's rice crop.

"Thousands of families are facing the real possibility of a second wave of deaths that can result from lack of clean water, food, shelter and medical supplies," said Kelly Stevenson, the Bangladesh director of Save the Children.

Every year, thousands are killed in Bangladesh in floods or storms. Not surprisingly, those most at risk are the poor, whose dwellings are the least substantial and often located in the most vulnerable areas.

Yet sometimes the most basic measures can help. Officials say that the death toll could have been much higher if the authorities had not acted to warn people of the impending storm. One of the most basic warning systems involved dispatching volunteers equipped with megaphones to cycle around local communities urging people to take shelter.

Indeed, up to 40,000 volunteers with the Red Crescent Society were involved in warning residents to move into the 1,800 cyclone shelters and 440 flood shelters set up. As a result, when Sidr struck the coastline on 15 November, two million people were already taking shelter.

"It's as low-tech as you get ... basically a project centred around preparing people for disasters by using community-based volunteers who do everything from street theatre to school education and lectures to women's groups," said Dhupinder Powar, of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Geneva.

The Bangladeshi government has promised that it will be able to feed more than two million people made homeless and destitute by the storm with 33lb of rice a month each, starting on 1 December, a programme expected to last at least four months.

At the same time, while more than $450m (?220m) in aid has been pledged from the international community, emergency workers are still struggling to get immediate aid to the worst-affected areas. This weekend, the US is preparing to help deliver food and medical supplies. USS Kearsarge has arrived close to the Bangladeshi coast and a second ship, the USS Essex, is expecting to arrive in the coming days.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3193984.ece