在线国产一区二区_成人黄色片在线观看_国产成人免费_日韩精品免费在线视频_亚洲精品美女久久_欧美一级免费在线观看

   

Bangladesh cyclone death toll tops 3,100

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-19 22:02

BARGUNA, Bangladesh - The death toll from Thursday's cyclone in Bangladesh is now more than 3,100, and officials say that number could reach 10,000 once rescuers get to outlying islands.

Rescuers are struggling to reach thousands of survivors, and relief items have been slow to reach many. Survivors grieved and buried their loved ones Monday as they waited for aid to arrive.


A Bangladeshi woman grieves alongside the bodies of her relatives at Ragersori in Moralgonj on the southern coastal area of Bangladesh. [Agencies] 

The death toll from the Thursday cyclone reached 3,113 after reports finally reached Dhaka from storm-ravaged areas which had been largely cut off because of washed-out roads and downed telephone lines, said Lt. Col. Main Ullah Chowdhury, a spokesman of the army coordinating the relief and rescue work.

In Galachipa, a fishing village along the coast in Patuakhali district, Dhalan Mridha and his family had ignored the high cyclone alert issued by authorities.

"Nothing is going to happen. That was our first thought and we went to bed. Just before midnight the winds came like hundreds of demons. Our small hut was swept away like a piece of paper, and we all ran for shelter," said Mridha, a 45-year-old farm worker, weeping.

On the way to a shelter, Mridha was separated from his wife, mother and two children. The next morning he found their bodies stuck in a battered bush along the coast.

The coast abounded with such grim tales following Tropical Cyclone Sidr -- the worst cyclone to hit Bangladesh in a decade. Many grieving families buried their loved ones in the same grave because no male member was available to dig them.

The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, warned the toll could hit 10,000 once rescuers reach outlying islands.

The society's chairman, Mohammad Abdur Rob, said the estimate came from the assessments of thousands of volunteers involved in rescue operations across the battered region.

Helicopters airlifted food to hungry survivors Monday while rescuers struggled to reach remote areas. The army helicopters carried mostly high-protein cookies supplied by the World Food Program, said Emamul Haque, a spokesman for the WFP office in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, which is coordinating international relief efforts.

International aid organizations promised initial packages of $25 million during a meeting with Bangladesh agencies Monday, Haque said.

But relief items such as tents, rice and water have been slow to reach many. Government officials defended the relief efforts and expressed confidence that authorities are up to the task.

"We have enough food and water," said Shahidul Islam, the top official in Bagerhat, a battered district near the town of Barguna. "We are going to overcome the problem."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that several million dollars were available from the UN's emergency response funds, depending on the need.

He expressed his "profound condolences to the people and government of Bangladesh for the many deaths and the destruction involved, and the full solidarity of the UN system at this time of crisis," the statement said.

The government said it has allocated $5.2 million in emergency aid for rebuilding houses. Many foreign governments and international groups have also pledged to help.

The Chinese government has decided to donate US$1 million of emergency assistance to the Bangladesh government.

The United States offered $2.1 million. An American military medical team is already in Bangladesh and two US naval ships, each carrying at least 20 helicopters, among tons of other supplies, will be made available if the Bangladesh government requests them, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement.

Other governments and organizations that pledged aid include the German government, which offered about $730,000, the European Union with $2.2 million, and the British government with $5 million. France pledged some $730,000, while the Philippines said it would send a medical team.

Every year, storms batter Bangladesh, a country of 150 million, often killing large numbers of people. The most deadly recent storm was a tornado that leveled 80 villages in northern Bangladesh in 1996, killing 621 people.

Only two people were killed in Bangladesh by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was spawned off Indonesia's Sumatra island by a magnitude-9 earthquake, hitting a dozen countries and killing at least 216,858, according to government and aid agency figures considered the most reliable in each country.

Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive natural disaster in US history, killed 1,600 people across the Gulf Coast, destroyed or severely damaged more than 200,000 homes and made more than 800,000 people homeless overnight.



Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
主站蜘蛛池模板: 夜夜骚| 日韩精品亚洲专区在线观看 | 二区三区在线 | 91精品国产高清自在线观看 | 在线免费av观看 | 亚洲精品自拍 | 欧美日韩视频在线观看一区 | 狠狠干av| 欧美亚洲国产日韩 | 久久久精品国产 | 亚洲精品午夜aaa久久久 | 日韩国产在线 | 久久一级| 久久久精品一区 | 欧美乱码精品一区二区三 | 蜜桃久久| 97在线免费视频 | 午夜视频网址 | 成人精品鲁一区一区二区 | 中文字幕在线不卡 | 老司机在线精品视频 | 国产又粗又大又爽视频 | 欧美一区永久视频免费观看 | 欧美日韩亚 | 亚洲码欧美码一区二区三区 | 操碰97| 国产精品一区二区在线播放 | 狠狠综合久久 | 99re在线视频 | 色婷婷网 | 在线不卡二区 | www.788.com色淫免费 | 免费看黄视频网站 | 亚洲欧美综合一区 | 99精品亚洲 | 国产成人61精品免费看片 | 国产美女一区二区 | 韩国电影久久影院 | 亚洲va中文字幕 | 日韩专区中文字幕 | 男女靠逼视频 |