DHAKA, 17 November 2007 — A severe cyclone killed over 1,100 people and injured thousands when it hit this teeming South Asian nation on Thursday night. Hundreds more were reported missing.
Cyclone Sidr, described as the worst storm in years to hit Bangladesh, triggered an international relief effort to help the disaster-prone country cope with the latest emergency.
The private UNB news agency, quoting unofficial local sources, said over 1,100 lives had been lost and more than 300 people were missing. Government official Kazi Mokhlechur Rahman, of the Home Ministry control room, put the confirmed death toll at 612 and climbing with 192 people unaccounted for.
The Category 4 cyclone triggered a 15-foot-high tidal surge that devastated three coastal towns and forced 3.2 million people to evacuate, officials and aid agencies said.
“The death count is rising fast as we get more information from the affected districts,” a Food and Disaster Ministry official said. He put the official death toll at 250.
The death toll might rise sharply when search operations end in a half dozen tiny offshore islands inhabited by thousands of fishermen, and coastal areas where telecommunication lines were cut. Navy rescuers aboard five vessels had reached the islands and started giving relief to survivors and retrieving bodies, the Defense Ministry said.
“It will take several days to complete the search and know the actual casualty figure and extent of damage to property,” said Disaster Ministry official Ayub Miah.
Dhaka and major cities across the country were plunged into darkness at sunset. Many power plants and most distribution systems were damaged by the cyclone and it could take three more days to restore services, power department officials said.
“I am concerned about security. Thugs will have a swell time throughout the night,” said businessman Abul Hashem.
The tidal surge inundated Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalakathi, cutting off links to the three towns. An official in Dhaka had no information yet about casualties from the area.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva 1,000 fishermen were missing.
“Significant damage is expected. However, information collection on casualty and damage figures is still very much in the early stages,” OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said.
At least 150 trawlers have been reported missing. Though authorities had broadcast repeated storm warnings, many of the missing boats might have been small vessels without radios.
The navy launched search and rescue operations, while four helicopters loaded with emergency relief supplies have been dispatched to some of the worst-hit areas, officials said.
Around 30,000 volunteers mobilized by Bangladesh Red Crescent beat drums and used bullhorns or a special flag system to spread evacuation warnings, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in Geneva.
The UN’s World Food Program said it was sending 98 tons of high-energy biscuits, enough for 400,000 people for three days. “The urgent needs are food, water purification tablets and medicines,” WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said.
Fakhruddin Ahmed, chief of the army-backed interim government, flew to devastated coastal districts on the Bay of Bengal yesterday to see the damage, officials said.
The cyclone, which followed devastating floods from July to September that killed more than 1,000, posed a new challenge to the interim administration, whose main task is to hold free and fair elections before the end of next year.
