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World Vision provides immediate aid in Cyclone Sidr's wake |  | | |
November 17, 2007
 More than 43,000 people living in seven World Vision Bangladesh programme areas have been made homeless or had their home badly damaged by Cyclone Sidr.
World Vision staff are assessing needs and distributing dry rations of rice, molasses and sugar to the survivors of the devastating storm that is so far reported to have killed more than 500 people.
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Hundreds of Bangladeshi families waited out the storm in shelters
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Forty-five of those deaths are in areas where there are World Vision Area Development Programmes (ADPs). There are no reports from ADP staff of deaths among sponsored children or their families. The number of casualties is likely to increase as hundreds of people, including fishermen, are still missing.
Two of the seven ADPs affected – Chitlamari and Laudope – are funded by World Vision New Zealand.
World Vision Bangladesh National Director, Vince Edwards, say crops have been badly damaged.
“There has been a serious impact on rice crops which would have been ready for harvesting next month. People’s livelihoods are going to be very badly affected.
“Our relief teams have already started emergency distributions, with an initial coverage of 20,000 families. However, several areas are inaccessible due to fallen trees. Our teams are also trying to reach other areas to assess damage. At the moment it looks like our major focus in coming days will be on shelter and on household livelihoods through agricultural interventions.”
Government officials are reporting 60 to 70 per cent of homes in the worst hit areas have been destroyed.
Current World Vision distributions include two kilos of flattened rice and one kilo of molasses or sugar. World Vision staff are also providing first aid to those hurt by falling trees or debris from buildings.
World Vision Bangladesh is planning to provide 20,000 families with 7-days packs of items that include rice, sugar, salt, candles, blankets and mattresses.
Before the cyclone hit – with wind speeds of up to 210 km per hour – World Vision programme staff helped evacuate hundreds of people to cyclone shelters. In total some 600,000 people in Southern Bangladesh were evacuated.
The country has been suffering from nationwide blackouts and disruptions to telephone and internet connections. Mainland areas and delta islands are still cut off.
More than 20,000 people took shelter in Mongla and Laudobe ADP areas in 31 World Vision Bangladesh-built cyclone shelters as well as schools designed to double as refuges.
The total planned response proposed by World Vision will cost almost NZD $850,000. While some of this will come from existing community programme funds, World Vision support offices around the world – including World Vison New Zealand – are raising the balance through public appeals.
For more information or to make a donation, call World Vision New Zealand on 0800 800 776.
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