IRIN
BANGLADESH: Cyclone-hit areas to get food cards from 1 December
22 November 2007


DHAKA, 22 November 2007 (IRIN) - As the need for food, water and other 
relief items multiplies, the government of Bangladesh, in collaboration 
with the armed forces and members of the humanitarian community, is 
working overtime to reach victims of Cyclone Sidr.

The category four storm, with winds of up to 250 kph, rammed into the 
southwestern coast of Bangladesh on 15 November killing over 3,000 
people and leaving millions homeless.

Of the country's 64 districts, 15 were affected, 11 of them badly.

>From 1 December the government will introduce special Vulnerable Group 
Feeding (VGF) cards to 2.5 million people in the cyclone-hit areas, 
providing 15kg of rice a month per cardholder.

Safe drinking water is now being supplied in the vulnerable areas, new 
tube-wells are being dug, and over 3,000 members of the armed forces are 
actively distributing food and relief items in remote areas.

Ferries recovered

The recovery of storm-tossed ferries and pontoons trapped on river 
islands is continuing with the help of the Bangladesh military. Already 
a number of ferries, pontoons and gangways have been retrieved.

Power supply has been restored in 48 out of the 56 affected 
sub-districts.

Telephone land lines remain down in nine sub-districts in the area, but 
the mobile phone network has largely been restored.

Over the past six days, the World Food Programme (WFP) has delivered 
nearly 95 metric tonnes (mt) of high-energy biscuits to over 650,000 
people in the worst affected areas; using helicopters when necessary.

On 23 November, the UN food agency will begin distributing rice by road 
to the affected area.

Donor pledges pour in

To date the government has said it had promises of US$390 million in 
international assistance, much of it a $250 million pledge from the 
World Bank.

On 21 November, the World Bank announced the funds, comprising of a 
low-interest loan and grant, which would support both immediate needs 
such as food, medical care and small loans for fishermen and farmers, 
along with longer-term recovery projects.

"Bangladesh is still in the rescue and relief phase, but as it moves 
into recovery over the next few days, our commitment is a signal to the 
government of the scale of what we can offer if needed," Xian Zhu, the 
World Bank's country director in Bangladesh, said.

Earlier in the day, the European Union announced $9.6 million in aid, 
while the American Red Cross said it would provide $1.2 million to help 
provide potable water to people and build emergency shelters.

Also on 21 November, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said it would 
mobilise money and material amounting to $20 million - with several 
donors, including Japan, Canada, Australia, Sweden and the World Bank, 
already expressing interest in support.

Fist fights

Meanwhile, relief officials continued to struggle to get desperately 
needed rice, drinking water and tents to people in remote, more isolated 
villages wrecked by the storm, local newspapers reported.

In the village of Tafalbari in Bagerhat District, aid workers and 
journalists working in the cyclone-battered area reported fighting had 
broken out amongst a crowd of villagers who had spent fruitless hours 
waiting for food outside a relief centre.

Several thousand people surrounded the small aid station set up by a 
local humanitarian group - forcing workers to shut the gates against the 
tide, admitting just a few people at a time, while in the nearby village 
of Purba Saralia, relief officials used force to fend off a rush of 
hungry people pleading for rice.

Officials at the centre said the government had provided only enough 
rice to feed 1,200 registered residents, despite the many thousands more 
in need outside.

A few miles away in the village of Basal Bar, more fist fights broke out 
among cyclone survivors as thousands of people who had gathered before 
dawn at a food distribution centre set up by a local aid group, grew 
increasing desperate. "People need more than what is being given," Usha 
Misra, an advocacy adviser for WFP told the BBC. "Moreover, they need 
cooked food rather than cereals and pulses. They have no hearth or home 
where they can cook food," she said.


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