I have just visited Bagerhat, one of the areas worst affected by Cyclone Sidr.

When the cyclone hit, the water level rose to about 3 feet (91 cm), but that happened slowly and people just decided to sit it out. Then suddenly within 30 minutes the water level rose dramatically to 8 feet (2.5 metres) and everyone was terrified. It took five or six hours for the water levels to subside.

There is no social security safety net in Bangladesh like there is in Europe. So here the social fabric is basically your safety net. People do keep track of each other and can tell you if their neighbour is missing.

During the night of the cyclone, everyone opened their doors to provide shelter. We had 200 people sheltering in one small BRAC office alone. Victims have erected makeshift tents out of bamboo and plastic.

Staff have been working on overdrive since the night of the cyclone despite the traumatic experiences they've had themselves. They are devoting 20 hours a day to the relief effort. I know staff who have only slept six or seven hours in the last five days.

Initially we gave out candles, high energy biscuits and cooking oil. Now we are giving out large food sacks. For someone who has not had food for three days, having a full plate of khichuri (lentils and rice) is a welcome hot meal.

When we give people a food voucher, we give them a time to come to our centre. Unfortunately, people are scared the food will run out - so a person with a three o'clock ticket will turn up at 9 am. One person said to me: "You've only given me a slip to console me and I know you will run out by 3 p.m." We ask them to trust us, explaining that we have given out a thousand tickets for a thousand sacks and nobody will go without. But we understand that people are scared.

Where I have just been, the ferry was run aground by the cyclone. So there were large tailbacks of relief vehicles trying to get across the river. We rented small boats to take the food sacks across and then on the other side we used rickshaw vans to take the sacks to different local offices. So far we have only lost a few sacks through damage and splitting. The whole process from "food to field" takes 24 hours or less on average. It's a chain of staff all working together.

We want to ensure a regular supply of drinking water within the next two or three days. The army and civil administration as well as organizations like Muslim Aid and the Scouts are all tackling this problem together. BRAC is focusing on mid-term solutions and we are treating the ponds that have become contaminated. Ponds are where people normally get their drinking water.

If they can't access the emergency water supplies, then yes, people are drinking contaminated water. Our statistics are thankfully not showing a major problem with diarrhea yet. But you do see people taking risks because they are desperate.

I saw two rotting dead cows and a goat in a canal and there was a little girl upstream who was collecting water. I just prayed that because she was upstream from the decomposing bodies she would be ok.

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