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November 20, 2007
BANGKOK/NEW YORK -- The death toll from Cyclone Sidr, which hit Bangladesh last Thursday, now is more than 3,000 people. The number is expected to rise.
Church World Service and its partners are providing emergency support for more than 35,500 people in southern Bangladesh with distribution of rice, pulses, salt and oil as well as oral re-hydration salts.
The alliance is working through Action by Churches Together (ACT) International.
The initial assistance will ensure two meals a day for at least five days, targeting particularly vulnerable groups of people including widows, children, the elderly, disabled and those without land. Distribution will focus on the districts of Bagerhat, Barisal, Gopalganj, Khulna and Madarapur.
Over the next week, the Church of Bangladesh Christian Aid, and the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh among other CWS partners and ACT members, will assess early recovery and longer term rehabilitation needs.
Prior to the storm, the Church or Bangladesh reported that people on the island of Moheshkali were evacuated to cyclone shelters, including 44 shelters constructed after a devastating 1991 cyclone.
Relief officials say the situation is dire for survivors.
"Food, shelter and medicine are badly needed for the survivors," Renata Lok Dessallien, the United Nations Resident Representative in Bangladesh, told the Reuters news agency after visiting areas badly hit by the cyclone.
There may be as many as three million survivors who need assistance, Reuters reported today. Sidr hit the southern coast of Bangladesh on Thursday (Nov. 15) with 155 mph winds. Some areas were hit by a 16-foot tidal surge.
Contributions to support this relief and recovery efforts may be sent to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN, 46515. Please designate: Bangladesh Cyclone Response #6995. Contributions may also be made by credit card online, or by calling: 800-297-1516, ext. 222.
CWS is the international emergency response, development, and refugee assistance agency funded in part by 35 U.S. communions. Based in New York, the agency has offices throughout Asia.
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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