More than 3,000 dead and the number may increase, officials say

New Delhi, November 19, 2007. - Although the official death count is so far over 3,000, the secretary general of the Red Crescent, Abdur Rob, said the toll could rise much yet, as a delegate from the organization quantified by seven million people affected by cyclone.
Bangladesh today called for international aid for victims of Cyclone "Sidr" which are in a desperate situation due to lack of clean water, food and shelter, and to the growing fear of an outbreak of epidemics.
"We are doing all we can, but the magnitude of the calamity is simply too big," he said in a statement Bengali Minister of Foreign Affairs Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, who was confident the country will receive international assistance in a "hour of need."
The "Sidr" ("Eye" in Bengali) Thursday devastated the coast of Bangladesh with winds of 233 kilometers per hour caused a rise of five meters of the ocean and destroyed hundreds of thousands of flimsy houses and crops.
Both Crescent and the Government of Dhaka now warn that victims of "Sidr" face the risk of epidemics in the coming days, especially due to poor sanitary conditions.
"So far no news of epidemics, but the risk exists. We are working on the ground to avoid it, especially by providing clean water, "Efe said a delegate of the organization.
"There is a risk of epidemics, and people continue to need water, food and shelter," declared itself an official of Bangladesh Control Center, an agency under the Ministry of Disaster Management.
Described by meteorologists as one of the worst cyclones in recent years, the effects of "Sidr" were lessened because landfall at low tide and that the authorities launched a timely evacuation plan covering about 3.2 million people.
Still, the damage was extensive, and the rescue and relief organizations on the ground continue to support the Army.
Today, rescue teams finally agreed to one of the most remote areas, the offshore island of Dublarchar, in the south, which was one of the hardest hit by the hurricane.
"I sent my people to Dublarchar material aid and medicine. Normality is slowly returning, today fishermen finally went fishing, I am told, "said District Commissioner of Bagerhat, Sahidul Islam.
However, "its people", the officer Habi Hassan, told Efe on a satellite phone that the situation on the island is bleak, and stressed that there are still bodies floating in the waters of the area, where between 350 and 600 missing persons.
In Dublarchar, in fact, the magnitude of the drama is greater because the island serves as a base for fishermen for six months a year, this fishing season, but just have places to take cover and just have some huts for shelter.
"There were 600 fishing boats before the hurricane, said Hassan and now 100 are stranded or lost even inside the jungle, because the flood waters retreated after dragging. There are no official figures, only bodies in the jungle. It was a total disaster. "
In Dublarchar have died, according to Hassan, 150 people, including the head of the brotherhood of fishermen, Jagannath Das, who, according to the newspaper "The Daily Star," preferred to stay at home sitting on their bamboo bags of fish to that the waves carried him away.
For Das, and buried, reflects the many villagers who had lost faith in meteorologists, after several warnings, a notice of possible tsunami included-are not met.
"Two years ago, we were told we would die when the wave arrived. We ran to shelters without a second thought. But nothing happened and came back and our houses had been looted, "he told the newspaper Anwara Khatun, whom the" Sidr "has taken his mother and two nephews.
Both the Bangladesh Army as NGOs distributed rations of rice and water in most affected areas in southern and southwestern Bangladesh, a country that has experienced 80 cyclones in the last 125 years.
But in the isolated Dublarchar, people are fighting over the water.
"We're almost back to normal. But he had never seen such devastation, "the commissioner told Efe Islam.

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Thematic area:

1. More than 2,500 killed in cyclone "Sidr" as aid begins to arrive
2. Slow rescue efforts in Bangladesh after cyclone killed nearly 1,800
3. Hurricane "Sidr" destroys Bangladesh with hundreds dead and millions evacuated
4. Hurricane "Sidr" destroys Bangladesh with over a thousand dead and millions evacuated
5. Bangladesh faces climate change with doubts about its survival