Silver Spring, Maryland—The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is on the ground and responding to the immediate needs of survivors after Cyclone Sidr made landfall over the low-lying southwestern coast of Bangladesh on Thursday, November 15.
Emergency response teams based out of the ADRA Bangladesh office in Dhaka have assessed the damage and the most urgent needs in cyclone-affected areas. ADRA is initially responding with relief food items, including two types of rice, sugar, salt, lentils, and oral rehydration solution for 927 households (about 5,000 individuals) in the hard-hit district of Barguna, specifically the villages of Chorpara and Sadagorpara. In these two villages, 36 people are confirmed dead and 100 percent of houses have been destroyed.
According to Robert Patton, regional coordinator for emergency management for the ADRA Asia Regional Office, ADRA Bangladesh will follow up this initial intervention by providing shelter and basic household kits for these households, plus extend the assistance to an adjoining subdistrict.
As the cyclone headed northeast over Bangladesh, Sidr's Category Four winds and heavy rains destroyed thousands of homes and crops, leaving large areas without electricity or communications service.
Latest United Nations and news reports indicate at least 3,100 have died as a result of the storm, with the death toll expected to climb. At least three million people have been affected. The Government of Bangladesh estimates that over 273,000 homes were destroyed and an additional 650,000 damaged. Public buildings were affected as well, with 75 educational institutions destroyed and another 4,231 partially damaged. More than 760,000 acres of crops were damaged.
The worst affected areas include Bagerhat, Barguna, Barisal, Bhola, Gopalgonj, Jhalkhati, Khulna, Mandaripur, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Satkhira, and Shariatpur districts.
To donate to ADRA's emergency response effort to aid survivors of Cyclone Sidr and other natural disasters, please contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or donate online to ADRA's Emergency Response fund at www.adra.org.
Updates will be released as ADRA's response efforts expand.
ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, or ethnicity.
Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.
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Media Contact:
Kara Watkins
ADRA International
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904
Phone: 301.680.6357
Mobile: 301.526.2625
E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
