Posted on 11/15/2007 2:26:27 PM PST by blam
One million displaced by 140mph cyclone
By Peter Foster, South Asia Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:15pm GMT 15/11/2007
More than a million people were evacuated from the coasts of Bangladesh and eastern India today with a cyclone with wind-speeds of up to 140mph due to make land-fall, destroying houses, crops and trees.
In an echo of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, meteorologists warned tidal surges of up 20ft could cause devastating flooding across low-lying areas of Bangladesh and the Sunderbans mangrove forest of India’s West Bengal state.
In Khulna district alone 250,000 people were reported to have been moved to temporary shelter
The mass evacuation is intended to prevent the huge loss of life seen during the Bengal cyclones of 1970 and 1991 which killed 500,000 and 143,000 people respectively.
More than 10 million people were estimated to be in the path of Cyclone Sidr which came spiralling in from the Bay Bengal, gathering force as night fell across the region.
Tens of thousands of people were reported to be fleeing inland in search of shelter, taking only their cattle, food supplies and a few portable possessions along with them.
In the most rural areas, where television and radio was not available, police and local volunteers drove from village to village in cars and auto-rickshaws using megaphones to alert the people to the approaching storm.
In the Sunderbans, where some of the world’s poorest people live on a network of shifting sandbanks, government officials used speedboats to hop from island to island warning villagers to get out.
Bangladesh ordered all fishing trawlers to seek shelter or return to harbour immediately, closed the main air and sea ports at Chittagong and Mongla, and suspended ferry and rail services across the southern region.
Meteorologists predicted that the districts of Khulna and Barisal - two areas in southern Bangladesh, between the capital Dhaka and the Indian city of Calcutta - would be worst affected.
In Khulna district alone 250,000 people were reported to have been moved to temporary shelter.
Weather officials said the cyclone, visible in satellite images as a vicious swirl of cloud more than 300 miles in diameter, had the potential to cause “massive and widespread” destruction.
The region is one of the poorest in the world, with many millions of people living in semi-permanent structures constructed from mud, bamboo sticks, tin and straw thatch.
There are very few concrete building in which to shelter.
Meteorologists warn tidal surges could cause devastating floods across low-lying areas of Bangladesh
By mid-afternoon, the first winds, up to 60mph, hit the island of St Martin’s off Bangladesh’s southern tip of Teknaf, ripping off tin roofs and uprooting trees.
The main body of the cyclone was due to hit Bangladesh at around 6pm before tracking east onto the India coast around midnight.
Local officials said that assessing the extent of the damage and casualties would only become clear at day-break tomorrow
Talk about sensationalist headlines!
Displaced is a term usually used in describing REFUGEES, not EVACUEES.
Not anymore.
Don’t try calling tech support for the rest of this week.
Prayers up for these poor folks. There wil be many dead from this storm. God help them!
I was going to post "Bush's fault" -- but yours is so much better. Prayers indeed.
You know, when I see things like this I think, “What right do I have to ask and pray to God for anything?”
Next week isn't looking too good either.
Yup. I often think the same.
“You know, when I see things like this I think, “What right do I have to ask and pray to God for anything?””
“Yup. I often think the same.”
Putting on my Lutheran hat... You don’t have the right to ask God for anything. But He cleared the way through Christ’s perfect life, sacrificial death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead. Because of that, we are bold enough to come to Him and ask Him to grant our prayer.
Almighty Lord, protect the people of Bangladesh now, in this hour of peril. Guard lives; protect the children; and speed the rescue and recovery workers. Through Christ Jesus, Who calmed the storms on Galilee, and Who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen.
Amen to your beautiful prayer.
An elderly Jewish relative of mine once answered a similar question: “Why pray?”—His answer: “It may not help, but it couldn’t hurt.”
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