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Bangladesh Cyclone's Toll Tops 1,700

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By PARVEEN AHMED, The Associated Press

Published: November 18, 2007

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Hundreds of thousands of survivors were stuck Saturday behind roads blocked by fallen trees, iron roofs and thick sludge as rescue workers fought to reach towns along Bangladesh's coast that were ravaged by a powerful cyclone that killed at least 1,723 people.
Tropical Cyclone Sidr, the deadliest storm to hit the country in a decade, destroyed tens of thousands of homes in southwest Bangladesh on Thursday. It ruined much-needed crops just before harvest in this impoverished, low-lying South Asian country. More than 1 million coastal villagers fled to government shelters.

The official death toll rose to 1,723, and authorities feared the figure could rise.

The government scrambled Saturday to join international agencies and local officials in rescue efforts, deploying military helicopters, thousands of troops and naval ships.

Rescuers, trying to get food and water to people stranded by floods, struggled to clear roads so bad they said they will have to return on bicycles.

On the coast, 150 mph winds flung small ferries ashore like toy boats, cutting off migrant fishing communities on and around hundreds of tiny islands across the area's web of river channels.

The government has allocated $5.2 million in emergency aid to rebuild houses in cyclone-hit areas, the government said. Germany offered $731,345. The European Union released $2.2 million in relief aid. The World Food Program was rushing food.

Aid groups fear food shortages and contaminated water could bring widespread problems if people stay stranded.

Many parts of Dhaka, the biggest city in this crowded nation of 150 million, had no power or water Saturday.
Sidr wreaked havoc on power and phone lines, affecting areas spared direct hits. A 4-foot storm surge swept low-lying areas and offshore islands, leaving them underwater, said a Ministry of Food and Disaster Management official.

CYCLONE'S DEVASTATION

•Number of people affected: 2.7 million

•Number of people in shelters: 1.5 million

•Number of injured people: 4,000

•Number of houses damaged: 773,000

•Number of livestock lost: about 250,000

•Amount of crop land devastated: 77,450 acres

The Associated Press

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