Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Bangladesh Cyclone Sidr Update

20th November 2007 (updated from 19th Nov 2007)



Hurricane damage Kalapara, Patukhali District.Photo –Mahmud, Map/Concern, Nov 07• The current death toll after Cyclone Sidr has been put at 2753 by the government while the armed forces say it is 3113. Thousands are still missing and it is unofficially forecasted that the dead and missing will be over 10,000.

• According to government updates, over 4 million people of over one million families have been affected in 141 upazilas. Over 3 million houses have been totally destroyed and 6 million houses partially damaged. Over 790 educational insitutions have completely destroyed and about 4400 partially.

• About a hundred thousand hectares of the Sundarbans forest has been damaged. A potion of this forest that has been totally damaged will not re-grow while the areas partially damaged will re-grow.

• Road communication is gradually improving. There is shortage of fresh water overall and of food and shelter

Narrative

Country Level Update

Cyclone Sidr on the 15th November caused nightmare in Bangladesh. Ripping through the south western coast killing thousands of people, demolishing houses, crops, livestock left a trail of devastation over thousands of square kilometres. The winds reached 240km per hour hitting the coast at 7.30 pm on 15th November and cutting off all communications and utility services across the country.

Despite evacuation of hundreds of people, the country still suffered a high number of deaths. As of 20th November, The current death toll after Cyclone Sidr has been put at 2753 by the government while the armed forces say it is 3113. Thousands are still missing and it is unofficially forecasted that the dead and missing will be over 10,000.

According to government updates, over 4 million people of over one million families have been affected in 141 upazilas. Over 3 million houses have been totally destroyed and 6 million houses partially damaged. Over 790 educational institutions have completely destroyed and about 4400 partially. Dead bodies are still being collected and in many areas mass burials have had to be carried out without proper religious rites. It is reported that there is stench of rotting bodies and animal carcasses in the most hard hit areas. Road communication is improving. There is shortage of fresh water overall and of food and shelter.

About a hundred thousand hectares of the Sundarbans forest has been damaged. A potion of this forest that has been totally damaged will not re-grow while the areas partially damaged will re-grow.

Emergency Interventions

The government has sanctioned Tk 35 crore for housing in the cyclone hit areas, priority is being given to Patuakhali, Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Barisal, Barguna, Jhalakati, Bhola, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Shariatpur, Khulna and Satkhira. Currently 732 medical teams are working in these areas. Rescue operations are being carried out by the army, air force and navy. Dry food is being provided, however, many areas are still hard to reach and these people are facing acute crisis of food and fresh drinking water.

The government has welcomed assistance form the international community. The donors have so far pledged $142 million in aid. After two floods this year, Bangladesh economy will be hard hit. The international community, i.e. the UN, EU, Germany, USA, UK, Saudi Arabia and others have expressed that they will make funds available to respond to Bangladesh’s disaster.

Most of the small and local NGOs are also mobilising their won resources to do as much as they can for the cyclone victims. For example Concern’s partner organisations such as Sangram and Speed Trust have aided in rescue operations, mobilised local people to take care of mass burials, distributed dry food and other food rations for some families to address immediate food crisis. These small NGOs also arranged for transport of injured persons to nearest places for medical aid.

Concern Worldwide Response

Concern Worldwide, Bangladesh is continuously monitored the situation and has deployed Concern staff and partner organisation staff to assess the extent of the disaster and identify the areas and communities which need help acutely, keeping in mind the need to avoid duplication with relief operations by other NGOs.

Concern with funding from ECHO (Euro 580,000) and Concern General Donations (Euro 100,000) has started relief operations in Barguna and Patuakhali districts for 26,000 extreme poor families. It has been estimated that over 250 thousand families have been affected, death toll so far 1903 in these two districts. Concern sets priority to assist those families who have the least coping capacity and in areas where the response by other organisations may be limited. The relief package being given includes both food and non-food material (see details in Map). The relief package fixed according to international Sphere Standards will provide food for 15 days for each family. The relief operation will be implemented through three partner organisations – Speed Trust (Patuakhali) , Dhaka Ahsania Mission- DAM (Barguna) and Sangram (Barguna).

Details of working location and number of families to be covered

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