Disease strikes cyclone zone
2007-11-21 09:42
Patharghata, Bangladesh - Reports emerged on Wednesday of deaths from diarrhoea in areas of Bangladesh ravaged by Cylcone Sidr, while international agencies considered the government's appeal for more aid to cope with the many thousands left homeless and hungry.
The cyclone zone has been struck with water-borne diseases and two children died of diarrhoea on Tuesday in the hard-hit district of Patuakhali, Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper reported, quoting local health officials.
Government officials were not immediately available to confirm the newspaper report.
Aid agencies and UN officials were visiting the affected areas to assess the damage and the aid need, said Sakil Faizullah, a spokesperson for the United Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh.
Food, fresh water and temporary shelter had still not reached many of the exhausted survivors six days after the cyclone slammed into the low lying country.
"At this time we will welcome support from the international community," said a statement from Bangladesh Foreign Ministry. "We are doing as best as we can do ourselves."
In a televised speech on Tuesday, the country's interim leader, Fakhruddin Ahmed, described the cyclone as "a national calamity" and urged citizens to help the affected people.
The government said international aid worth about $120m had so far been promised. But relief items such as tents, rice and water have been slow to reach most survivors of the worst cyclone to hit Bangladesh in a decade.
'I'm not sure it will come'
The European Commission announced on Tuesday aid of $9.6m. The American Red Cross said it would provide $1.2m to help get clean water to the survivors and build emergency shelters.
"The problem is that aid workers need hours to reach these remote areas. Poor communications are also hampering our work," said Anwarul Huq, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, the country's largest non-profit development organisation.
In many places, aid workers had to clear fallen trees and debris to get to survivors, said Huq, adding that rescuers also were facing a shortage of boats.
Nearly 3 000 volunteers from the committee have been distributing rice, lentils, salt, biscuits and candles to the survivors, he said.
At Patharghata, a hard-hit trading town on the Bay of Bengal, more than 100 women gathered on Tuesday hoping to get aid.
"I've been waiting here for several hours hoping to get some food and drinking water," said Safura Begum, who has three children. "But I'm not sure it will come."
The storm, which tore along Bangladesh's southwestern coast on Thursday, left tens of thousands of people homeless and desperate for help.
The official death toll stood at 3 153, Lt Col Main Ullah Chowdhury, spokesperson for the army that is co-ordinating the relief and rescue work, said on Tuesday.
Local media reports say more than 4 000 people may have been killed. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, has suggested the final figure could be around 10 000.
- AP