Bangladesh: Cyclone Sidr - full text
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At least 3,113 people were killed after tropical cyclone Sidr, equivalent to a category four cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson scale, struck the southern coastline of Bangladesh on Nov. 15. Sidr made landfall with winds of up to 250 kph, triggering a 5-metre high water surge and devastating several coastal towns, most notably those of Patuakhali, Barguna, and Jhalakathi. In the immediate aftermath, government figures indicated that a further 3,322 people were injured and more than 1,000 others were missing.
Immediate Context
Government and aid agency officials said that Sidr, which originated from a tropical depression that formed over the Bay of Bengal on Nov. 11, demolished more than 750,000 homes and destroyed at least half of the coastal region’s crops.
At least one million families were though to have been affected by Sidr, which also caused widespread damage to about 30,000 hectares of the Sundarban mangrove forest, in the district of greater Khulna, home to the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger and designated a world heritage site by the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Sidr was the fourth cyclone of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season (the previous three being cyclones Akash, Gonu, and Yemyin. The installation in the 1990s of an early warning system and the evacuation of around 3.2 million people, before Sidr made landfall, were widely credited with significantly reducing the number of fatalities.
Reaction and Outlook
It was feared that the death toll would rise sharply as rescue efforts, including the deployment of naval ships and helicopters, reached islands in the Bay of Bengal and in remote coastal areas of southern Bangladesh. World Vision, one of many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) helping survivors, said on Nov. 19 that around 1,000 fishermen were still missing, whilst Suman Sengupta, an official from the charity Save the Children in Bangladesh, said that he expected the final death toll to exceed 10,000.
Aid worker Mohammad Selim, cited in a report published by the Reuters news agency on Nov. 19, said that some of the worst affected areas resembled "a valley of death".
UN emergency relief co-ordinator John Holmes on Nov. 16 announced that the UN’s Central Emergency Respond Fund (CERF) would provide "several million dollars" to support aid operations. The European Commission (EC) announced, also on Nov. 16, that it had released emergency aid worth €1.5 million (US$1.00=0. 6827 euros as at Nov. 16, 2007) and pledged an additional €5 million on Nov. 19.
Chief Adviser (prime minister) of the interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed flew to devastated areas on Nov. 19, reassuring victims that his administration would provide sufficient aid and saying that the "courage" displayed by citizens during "disasters like cyclones and floods" gave "us strength and reinforced confidence in our ability to do the best we can".
Historical Context
Bangladesh was prone to destructive storms and flooding because it was a low-lying country that was situated on the delta of the Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Meghna rivers. During the monsoon season these rivers also carried additional water from melted ice and snow in the Himalayas. Periodically these waters caused severe floods, which had become more frequent over the past 50 years. Many of the country’s 157 million citizens lived in or near the deltas, which had, some commentators believed, led to overpopulation of the vulnerable flood plain and agriculture in unsuitable areas, and to corrupt or ineptly sited building developments that blocked flood waterways constructed under a 1990 flood action plan.
The authorities in September 2004 were forced to close all government offices in Dhaka (the capital), after the city suffered 341 mm of rainfall, the highest recorded rainfall in 50 years. In July 2004, about two thirds of Bangladesh was left inundated after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains.
A cyclone in April 1991 resulted in the deaths of around 139,000 people, whilst at least 11,000 people were killed in May 1985, and 250,000 others were left homeless, when a cyclone and tidal waves struck south-east Bangladesh. In the worst disaster of its kind, and one of the worst in modern times, at least 200,000 people were killed in November 1970, in the coastal region of East Pakistan (now known as Bangladesh), when the densely populated Ganges delta was swept by a cyclone and tidal wave.
More than 40,000 people were also killed by cyclones which struck Bangladesh in October 1960, May 1963, and May 1965, whilst 11,000 people were killed in October 1942, when a cyclone swept over the Indian provinces of West Bengal (much of which is now known as Bangladesh) and East Orissa.
Bangladesh did, however, escape serious destruction in December 2004, when an earthquake registering at magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale, occurred and unleashed a series of massive tsunamis (tidal waves), which within hours caused devastation and massive loss of life in 12 countries around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
