DHAKA, 6 December 2007 — Bangladesh will seek emergency funds from the World Heritage Center to restore the ecosystem and biodiversity of the Sundarban mangrove forest, badly mauled by last month’s killer cyclone, officials said yesterday.
Cyclone Sidr, which struck the Bangladesh coast on Nov. 15 with winds of 250 kph (155 mph), killed around 3,500 people, made millions homeless and destroyed a large part of the Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to the Royal Bengal Tiger.
Forest officials said they had found two dead tigers and several deer following the cyclone, the worst to hit Bangladesh since 1991, when a storm killed around 143,000 people.
Officials said better preparedness and an advance warning system had helped save many people this time, but the vast mangrove forest had also largely offset the impact of the cyclone, which triggered a 5-meter (16-ft) water surge from the Bay of Bengal.
According to the Forest Department’s preliminary estimate, the financial loss caused by Sidr to the mangroves would top 10 billion taka ($145 million), and experts say it might be more.
“Bangladesh is preparing a letter asking emergency funding from the World Heritage Center for immediate rehabilitation of infrastructure in the Sundarbans,” said Shafayat Hossain, a senior official at the Environment and Forest Ministry.
