Bangladesh Cyclone (16th November 2007)

Latest Update (20th November 2007)

The coastal areas of Bangladesh were hit by the category 4 storm of Cyclone SIDR on thursday which has since claimed more than 3000 people and jeopardized nearly 27 millions lives most of whom still struggling for survival with virtually no shelter, food or medicine at their disposal. According to official estimates, almost 3,322 have been reportedly injured and 1,063 are missing apart from 3,113 lives which have been lost to one of the worst natural disasters in the last decade. Rescue and relief workers are still finding ways to reach remote areas affected by the fury of Cyclone SIDR amid fears of possible outbreak of diseases due to complete lack of sanitation, clean drinking water and food in some of the worst affected areas. Unofficial estimates of the dead and injured have indicated a possible death toll in excess of 10,000 which is more than three times the current official estimates. With virtually no means for rescue operations to deliver help in remote and inaccessible areas, relief supplies in the form of food and medicine have been carried by rescue helicopters for helping survivors in these areas.

The officials have stated that international aid worth a total of nearly 60 million pounds has been promised so far from different quarters but the situation on ground is worsening every minute as relief supplies in the form of food, shelter and drinking water are painfully slow to reach the worst affected areas along the southern coastline of Bangladesh and a few islands in the Bay of Bengal. Indian government has also announced an aid of $1 million for assisting the ongoing relief operations in Bangladesh but no aid in the form of food and shelter or rescue missions is forthcoming so far.


Date : 19th November 2007
The death toll keeps on mounting three days after Cyclone SIDR wrecked unimaginable devastation in the coastal areas of Bangladesh with official estimates by Army approximating the number at around 3,113. However, it is believed that more than 10,000 lives might have been lost to the cyclone with the Red Cross estimating that around 900,000 families or at least 7 million people have been affected by the natural disaster.

Millions have reportedly been displaced by the disaster and rescue workers are finding it difficult to reach remote corners of the most affected southern coastal areas even as most of the roads have been blocked due to fallen trees and air drops are being organized with military help. The worst affected areas include a number of small islands lying off the coast which have become virtually as inaccessible as most of the low-lying coastal plains of Bangladesh.

Officials said that nearly 1.5 million of the coastal population of Bangladesh fled for safer places prior to the cyclone with the help of an extremely effective early warning system. Relief operations are going on at full pace with international aid pouring in from different quarters and Great Britain has offered $5 million for the noble cause. US is planning to contribute a further $2 million and is sending in a fleet of rescue helicopters to assist in the ongoing relief operations.

Bangladesh is no stranger to natural devastations of such a nature with a grim pattern of annual floods and cyclones which have claimed millions of lives in one of the poorest and most disaster-prone countries in the world in the last few decades. One such unusually destructive cyclone known as “the great cyclone” claimed at least half a million lives in 1970 with another one killing nearly 10,000 people in 1985. A lack of proper infrastructure in combination with undeveloped transportation network and no proper disaster management system has compounded the devastation caused by natural disasters in the country time and again.


Date : 17th November 2007
According to latest reports, Cyclone SIDR has left a trail of destruction in the southern coastal areas of Bangladesh where nearly 1100 people have lost lives and thousands have went missing. Rescue work is on at war scale as chaos prevail in the affected areas with millions of people having already fled in search of safer places. It is reported that authorities have not been able to locate more than a 1000 fishing boats with a greater number of fishermen in the Bay of Bengal. UN rescue and rehabilitation work is going ahead at full pace and cultivation has been affected as most of the agricultural fields have been covered with salt water.

Apart from extensive damage caused to the human life and property by the fierce cyclonic winds blowing at more than 150 kmph accompanied by thunderstorms from late thursday night till Friday, thousands of power lines, telephone poles and trees were also uprooted which blockaded transportation routes in the southern coastal areas. Food, medicine and temporary shelter is being provided to nearly 400,000 people in the cyclone affected areas even as navy ships are searching for missing and dead in the Bay of Bengal while trying to clear clogged river channels due to sunken vessels. The exact extent of damage is still being estimated but Cyclone SIDR is being considered as one of the worst to hit the low-lying coastal regions of Bangladesh in recent years.


Date : 16th November 2007
Cyclone Sidar hits Bangladesh Cost

Cyclone Sidar roared in from the Bay of Bengal just before dusk on Thursday, generating winds of up to 240kph (150mph) and driving rain. The latest figures states that at least 242 people have been reported dead.. Officials have warned that the death toll could rise and that the extent of the damage is still unclear.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated or sought safe shelter before the storm hit the coast.