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.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.
In the worst affected districts, 90 per cent of homes and 95 per cent of rice crops and valuable prawn farms were obliterated by the winds, which generated a 20ft tidal surge that swept everything from its path.
snip
Officials described the humanitarian situation in coastal districts like Barguna, 130 miles south of the capital Dhaka, as the “worst in decades”, a grave assertion in a country that is used to dealing with annual floods and storms.
Tapan Chowdhury, a government adviser for food and disaster management, described the cyclone as a “national calamity” and urged all to come forward to help the victims.
I really can’t think of much to say.
7 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
Not very cheery for a Monday morning, I know….sorry.
After Katrina, seeing the photo of the eyewall making landfall gave me the chills. It was tight, it was ferocious. I was reaching for a false hope due to the earlier small casualty reports coming out and completely forgetting the utter chaos that exists after being hit by a storm of that much gathered and focused energy.
will view this as a money maker. It’s so insane to let the fools that continue to foul our nest, profit from the resulting death and destruction. One feel s so helpless as we watch the casualties mount up and for those whose with the power it’s just collateral damage. Karma is the Law, as a famous man once said.
How are you feeling these days? Better and rested, I hope. Take good care-