Published: 11/16/07, 1:25 PM EDT
By JULHAS ALAM


Photo:
Local residents look inside a damaged class room at a school in Barishal, 120 kilometers(75 miles) south of Bangladesh's capital Friday, Nov. 16, 2007. A cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh's coast with 240 kph (140 mph) winds killed at least 41 people, leveled homes and forced the evacuation of 650,000 villagers before heading inland and losing power Friday, officials said. (AP Photo/Pavel Rahman)


Published: 11/16/07, 1:25 PM EDT
By JULHAS ALAM
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A cyclone that slammed into the coast with 150 mph winds killed at least 1,100 people, isolating remote towns and villages swamped by a storm surge or hemmed in by piles of debris, aid workers and a Bangladeshi news agency said Friday.

Tropical Cyclone Sidr roared across the country's southwestern coast late Thursday with driving rain and high waves, leveling thousands of flimsy huts and forcing the evacuation of 650,000 villagers, officials said.

The United News of Bangladesh news agency said reporters deployed across the devastated region made their own count in each affected district and reached a toll of 1,100.

The government, which earlier put the death toll at 242, has acknowledged its trouble keeping count - with power and phone lines down in most remote areas - and said it expected the official number to rise significantly.

The cyclone destroyed homes, crops and fish farms in 15 coastal districts, local government officials and witnesses said. Relief workers struggled to ferry food and medicine Friday to hundreds of thousands of survivors, officials and aid workers said.

Hasanul Amin, assistant director of the cyclone preparedness program sponsored by the government and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, said that about a dozen teams have been deployed to conduct relief operations in the worst-hit areas in the country's southwest.

Aid workers struggled through washed-out roads and areas blocked by debris to deliver relief material to people stranded by the floodwaters. In Bagerhat, one of the hardest hit districts near the Bay of Bengal, some villagers waited for hours to get some dry biscuits and rice, United News reported.

"We have lost everything," Moshararf Hossain, local farmer, told a UNB reporter. "We have nowhere to go."

Another farmer, Alam, said he lost two brothers to the cyclone.

"Nothing can compensate for my loss, but still I need support from the government," said Alam.

Downpours and staggering winds spawned a water surge four feet high that swept through low-lying areas and some offshore islands, leaving them under water, said Nahid Sultana, an official of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.

Volunteers from international aid agencies including the U.N. World Food Program, Save the Children and the U.S.-based Christian aid group World Vision have joined the relief effort.

The WFP has begun distributing high-energy biscuits in devastated villages and in shelters, the agency said in a statement. Save the Children said their volunteers were helping to evacuate people across the battered region.

World Vision is putting together seven-day packages for families that will include rice, oil, sugar, salt, candles and blankets, according to Vince Edwards, the agency's Bangladesh director.

But Edwards said debris from the storm has blocked roads and rivers, making it difficult to reach all the areas that had been hit.

"There has been lot of damage to houses made of mud and bamboo and about 60 to 80 percent of the trees have been uprooted," Edwards said.

Power and communications in the capital, Dhaka, also remained down late Friday. Strong winds uprooted trees, snapped power and telecommunication lines and sent billboards flying through the air, injuring several people, said Ashraful Zaman, another official at the cyclone control room.

At least 650,000 coastal villagers moved Thursday to cyclone shelters where they were given emergency rations, Ali Imam Majumder, a senior government official, told reporters in Dhaka.

However by late evening Friday operations had resumed at the country's two main seaports - Chittagong and Mongla, as well Chittagong and Dhaka airports, authorities said.

Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation, is prone to seasonal cyclones and floods that cause huge losses of life and property. The coastal area borders eastern India and is famous for the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, a world heritage site that is home to rare Royal Bengal Tigers.

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Associated Press writers Parveen Ahmed in Dhaka, Sheikh Didarul Alam in Khulna and Akhter Faruk in Barisal contributed to this report.

US offers sympathy and help for Bangladesh cyclone victims --

See link below:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071116/pl_af...hindiacycloneus

*update*

CNN News

Cyclone death toll hits 2,000
Published: 11/18/07, 9:00 AM EDT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (CNN) - The Bangladesh government estimated Sunday the death toll from Cyclone Sidr was now at least 2,000, and warned that it is expected to rise.
As flood waters recede, aid workers say they expect to find scores more bodies when remote villages are finally reached and the counting is done.

They face debris-blocked roads, no electricity and almost nonexistent communications.

In addition to the dead, another 15,000 people have been injured. Thousands of people have been displaced and many are still missing.

Cyclone Sidr, with sustained winds of at least 131 mph (210 kph), made landfall Thursday night along the western coast of Bangladesh near the border with India, unleashing floodwaters.

Government spokesman Fahim Munaim told CNN by telephone that the government held an emergency Cabinet meeting Saturday to assess the disaster and discuss recovery issues.

He said the extent of the cyclone's damage may be much worse because emergency relief had not been able to reach remote areas.

The government has identified the 12 worst districts -- all of them located on the southern coast -- out of the 23 affected by the cyclone, Munaim said. See victims pick up the pieces after the storm

The Bangladeshi air force, army and navy are working to provide shelter for the many people who have been displaced. Power is still out in much of the country but it is being restored. Watch how the cyclone spawns a large relief effort

Vince Edwards, national director of the relief agency World Vision in Bangladesh, said the high wind speeds of Cyclone Sidr have laid waste to the all-important rice crop and caused a huge loss of livestock.

He said 280,000 families have been rendered homeless by the cyclone, but many have been able to get shelter from family members.

World Vision is deploying 135 staffers and 7,000 volunteers to provide food, shelter and other relief. The group is appealing for $1.5 million in further funds to assist some 9.300 families rebuild their homes.

In Dhaka -- about 200 miles north of the worst-hit region -- there were power outages, massive traffic jams and spotty phone service, CNN's Cal Perry said from the city.

"From an infrastructure perspective, the country absolutely has been brought to its knees," he said.

Red Crescent spokeswoman Nabiha Chowdhury told CNN that communication with her agency's teams who have arrived in the stricken area is spotty, but they have resources with them to immediately help people with water purification, which she said was a top priority.

Those teams have cash with them to buy relief supplies from local wholesalers, said Chowdhury, who said the latest number of people injured was 15,000 with 1,000 missing. Chowdhury said about 600,000 people had fled, adding that about 2 million people lived along the coast.

The U.N. World Food Programme said it has enough high-energy biscuits to feed 400,000 people for several days.

Another humanitarian group, Save The Children, appealed for aid from the public.

"Many families have lost everything, including their homes and their crops, and they are struggling to survive," said Kelly Stevenson, Save the Children's Bangladesh director.

"We are appealing to the U.S. public to support our efforts to assist children and families affected by this disaster. We remain very concerned about possible outbreaks of cholera and severe diarrhea due to the lack of access to clean water," he said in a written statement.

U.S. President George Bush pledged Saturday $2.1 million for emergency relief as an "initial contribution," and said in a statement that two U.S. Navy carriers, the USS Essex and the USS Kearsarge, were en route to Bangladesh to assist in operations there.

"The United States is committed to helping the people of Bangladesh and their government as they face the many challenges of rebuilding and recovering," Bush said.

Furthermore, Bush said, USAID will airlift 35 tons plastic sheeting, jerricans, hygiene kits and other non-food supplies to the country. And an 18-person Department of Defense medical team in Bangladesh prior to the storm is helping with current medical needs, Bush said in the statement.