IRIN
BANGLADESH: Death toll rises, relief operation geared up
18 November 2007


DHAKA , 18 November 2007 (IRIN) - Aid agencies in Bangladesh are 
scrambling to provide relief to thousands of victims of Cyclone Sidr, 
which ravaged the country's southern coastline on 15 November and killed 
at least 2,000 people, according to the most recent government 
estimates.

However, limited access to affected areas and poor communications are 
making accurate estimates of the sheer scale of the devastation 
difficult.

Government officials estimate 60 to 70 percent of homes in the worst hit 
areas were destroyed. World Vision, an international Christian relief 
and development organisation, reported that more than 43,000 people had 
been made homeless or had their home badly damaged.

According to the Bangladeshi agriculture ministry, almost all the rice 
awaiting harvest in the affected areas has been destroyed, while shrimp 
farms and other crops were washed away, livestock was killed, and salt 
beds inundated in 15 of the country's 19 coastal districts.

Aid flow begins

On 17 November, navy ships continued to comb coastal areas for the 
thousands still reported missing, while helicopters dropped food, 
drinking water and medicine to areas where access was particularly 
difficult.

No stranger to such disasters, Bangladesh's military-backed caretaker 
government moved swiftly to mobilise relief efforts.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, the chief adviser to the government, announced an 
allocation of US$150,000 for each of the worst affected districts, 
adding that the government would solve the problems created by the 
cyclone on a priority basis. He also gave assurances that there were 
sufficient resources to deal with the post-emergency phase.

UN's emergency fund

Meanwhile, in New York UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said 
the UN would make available "several million dollars" for Bangladesh 
from the UN's Central Emergency Response 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," Holmes told a press briefing.

The Brussels-based European Commission (EC) said it had released 1.5 
million euros (US$2.2 million) in fast-track aid to help the most 
vulnerable.

"Preliminary indications are that the most pressing needs will be food, 
safe drinking water, emergency shelter, clothing, blankets and 
medicine," EC spokesman John Clancy said.

WFP biscuits

In a statement on 16 November, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) 
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.

"People's life and health cannot be endangered," Douglas Broderick, 
WFP's Bangladesh representative, said. "We all should come forward to 
save lives first. Dry food like high energy biscuits will be very 
useful, especially in these days when there is a scarcity of potable 
water for drinking and cooking."

Food is being distributed in several affected districts by UN staff, 
government officials and representatives of non-governmental 
organisations (NGOs).

WFP and the UN's Children's Fund (UNICEF) have a wide presence in the 
affected districts - including Jessore in Khulna division and Cox's 
Bazar in Chittagong Division - providing assistance to cyclone victims 
in coordination with other organisations.

At the same time, CARE, World Vision and scores of other NGOs and 
voluntary organisations have begun distributing rice, clothes, blankets, 
medicine, drinking water, baby food and other essentials to those 
affected.

Cyclones are an annual occurrence in low-lying Bangladesh, and the 
country has as a strong disaster preparedness system in place.

A cyclone that hit the country in 1970 killed about half a million 
people, while another in 1991 killed more than 130,000.


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