Sections:
Life, land and property devastated by Cyclone Sidr
19 May 2008
On the 15 November 2007 Cyclone Sidr tore through Bangladesh devastating the
lives of millions of people. In North Southkhali, on the edge of the Sundarbans,
the largest mangrove forest in the world, one in every 12 people from this
village of over 3,000 died.
Some of the people hit the hardest in the area were children who lost both
parents and everything they and their families owned. Support from the UK
Government and aid agencies such Save the Children, Oxfam and Islamic Relief
helped provide shelter, support and life saving supplies to many of the people
worst affected by the cyclone. And because this time the UK and others had
helped communities to prepare in advance, for example by building storm shelters
and establishing early warning systems, far fewer people died than in previous
cyclones.
But the people of Bangladesh may face more intense and frequent cyclones, and
the whole of the Sundarbans, may sink away due to the gradual rise of the sea
level as a result of climate change.
Links