More than four days after Cyclone Sidr ripped through the coastline of Bangladesh, wreaking carnage upon mostly poor coastal dwelling communities, the official death count now stands at just under 3000 according to the latest government figures. However, estimates from other aid agencies put the death toll at more than 5000.
Nearly half of the affected population are children and an estimated 400,000 of them are under the age of five. Children are believed to number high amongst the casualties - many have drowned or have been injured by falling trees although no figures are as yet available. With cold weather on the way children and women require urgent life-saving assistance such as medical supplies, food, clothing and shelter to be able to survive. Other critical priorities include ensuring access to a safe water supply and sanitation facilities to mitigate the threat of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery, to which children are particularly susceptible - though as yet there have been no reports of any outbreaks.
The UNICEF Representative for Bangladesh Louis-Georges Arsenault described scenes of utter devastation witnessed this morning after visiting a village in Patuakhali district.
"The Charkhali village on the riverbank has been completely wiped away for a three kilometre stretch - not a single house, tree or structure is standing," said Mr Arsenault. "There is total destruction of crops, infrastructure, and people's livelihoods. Children and families here are in acute need of food and shelter. Seeing this devastation goes beyond all imagination. Food, shelter and cash assistance should reach places like these immediately. And there is a need for long term support to these communities in order to rebuild their lives."
Hundreds of villages have been razed to the ground or have literally ceased to exist. Electricity systems have failed throughout the country, cutting off channels of communication.
The infrastructural damage to houses, public buildings, schools and roads, is extensive. One of the government's disaster preparedness measures included the evacuation of approximately 3.2 million people to safe places from along the coastline in 15 districts. Most of these people have lost their homes and are now internally displaced. It is believed that 90 per cent of houses in the affected areas have been completely destroyed.
These estimates are based on rescue and field missions undertaken over the last three days and are bound to rise as the full extent of the destruction unfolds. To date many remote areas have yet to be reached. Survivors are short of food and water as the Bangladesh Army and relief agencies try and access the affected areas under extraordinarily difficult conditions to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid.
Currently a total of 732 medical teams are functioning in the affected districts.
As yet there is no complete picture of damage to schools and educational institutes but so far 792 have been destroyed, and 4,393 partially damaged.
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