Bangladesh: Effective cyclone evacuation measures save countless lives

Relief efforts for victims of Cyclone Aila in Bangladesh are continuing, the country's Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) says, but effective early warning systems and evacuation measures seem to have saved countless lives. "The initial requirement is food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water. We are doing our best to ensure that the affected people receive those as soon as possible," DMB head Mohammad Farhad Uddin told IRIN on 27 May. The government is delivering clothing, water purification tablets, as well as food assistance to those affected, while the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has dispatched some 700 medical teams to the field. With technical support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the DGHS will also undertake a rapid needs assessment to assess the healthcare situation on the ground. A large number of international agencies and NGOs on the ground are also working with the government. British-based charity Muslim Aid has dispatched water purification units and half a million water purification tablets to Bagerhat District, as well as teams to Pirojpur, Patuakhali and Satkhira with food and clothing. With winds of up to 90km per hour, Aila swept across eastern India and southern Bangladesh on 25 May, affecting millions and leaving more than 150 dead, mostly in low-lying Bangladesh. In Bangladesh alone, the category one storm affected more than three million people and left 81 confirmed dead, with more than 800 people injured, according to the latest DMB information. Fourteen of the country's 64 districts - all of them coastal - were affected, Satkhira being hardest hit with at least 25 deaths. But with information still coming in and communications only now being restored, many believe the death toll could rise. According to local media reports, over 500 people are missing, many believed to be fishermen at sea when the cyclone struck. Mass evacuation Some 600,000 people were evacuated to cyclone shelters prior to the cyclone - a significant factor in minimising the loss of life. Many of those in the shelters whose homes were not destroyed are reportedly now returning home. At the same time, thousands more remain stranded in their villages due to flooding. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), low-lying areas, offshore islands and `chars' [river islands] were inundated by storm surges 2-3 metres above normal tides, destroying homes, livelihoods, livestock and displacing thousands of families. Many areas of coastal Patuakhali and Barguna districts disappeared under roughly 2.5 metres of tidal water. Some 80 percent of Barasal District was flooded. Crops lost, damaged More than 240,000 mostly thatched homes were damaged or destroyed, while about 121,400 hectares of crops were lost or damaged, the DMB reported on 26 May. Other losses include about 60,000 livestock; the complete or partial destruction of nearly 850 educational institutions; 2,414km of roads; and 509km of flood embankments. At a press conference on 26 May, Minister of Food and Disaster Management Muhammad Abdur Razzaque announced that the army, coast guards and the navy had been mobilised for relief operations. Thousands of volunteers of the Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society have also been deployed. Second cyclone this year Aila is the second tropical cyclone to strike Bangladesh this year. On 17 April, Cyclone Bijli lashed the country's southeastern coastal region, killing five people. According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), tropical cyclones occur at the rate of 1.3 a year in Bangladesh, resulting in numerous casualties and significant economic losses. The last major cyclone to hit Bangladesh was Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, which left around 3,500 dead. Tropical cyclones in 1970 and 1991 killed around 500,000 and 138,000 people, respectively. In recent years, efficient early warning systems and preparedness measures have significantly reduced the number of lives lost, say experts.