JHALOKATI, Bangladesh (Agencies)
Bangladesh said Saturday it feared thousands of corpses were littering its southern coast after the worst cyclone in years tore through the impoverished and low-lying area.
"We are expecting that thousands of dead bodies may be found within a few days," the deputy head of the government's disaster management office, Shekhar Chandra Das, told AFP.
"We have not been able to collect information about casualties in many remote and impassable places due to the disruption to communications," he said.
The official death toll from the cyclone so far exceeds 900 but some newspapers on Saturday gave figures between 1,100 and 2,000, quoting their reporters in the devastated areas.
"It will take several days to complete the search and know the actual casualty figure and extent of damage to property," said food and disaster ministry official Ayub Miah.
Officials said the army and relief workers were still battling to reach the worst-hit areas, where village after village was flattened when cyclone Sidr tore through the disaster-prone nation overnight Thursday. In many areas, communications are down and roads blocked.
Cyclone Sidr smashed into Bangladesh's southern coastline late on Thursday night with 250-kph (155 mph) winds that whipped up a 5-meter tidal surge. It was the strongest cyclone since a 1991 storm killed some 143,000 people in this country. |
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Mega-size tragedy Navy ships scoured coastal areas for hundreds of people reported missing and to clear river channels clogged with sunken vessels to restore normal navigation, officials said.
Helicopters flew sorties to devastated areas, dropping food, drinking water and medicine for the survivors.
People in Jhalokati, a town and district near the coast and one of the areas that bore the full brunt of the storm, told AFP of their terror as the cyclone smashed their homes with wind speeds of 220-240 kilometers (140-155 miles) an hour and torrential rain.
Jhalokati town is situated 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of capital Dhaka.
"I have never seen such a terrible scene. It was like hell. I saw dozens of tin roofs flying into the air. Whole houses too," said local businessman Manik Roy, 50.
"About 500 of us were huddled in a shelter in a government office. The windows were shattered and it seemed the whole building was shaking," he added.
Germany has allocated $293,000 in emergency relief aid and the European Union has released 1.5 million euros ($2.1 million) in fast-track aid.
"This is a major tragedy with hundreds already known to have died and hundreds of thousands suffering from this disaster," said Louis Michel, the European Commissioner responsible for Development and Humanitarian Aid.
In New York, John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said his office would make available "several million dollars" in emergency aid.
The United States has expressed "its deepest sympathy" for the victims, adding it had stockpiles of emergency supplies and shelters that U.S. aid projects had set up in Bangladesh in recent years.
"The storm's damage is significant, but with the measures already in place and post-relief activities ongoing, the United States is actively and quickly assisting Bangladesh in the recovery process," the U.S. State Department said. |
