Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 16, 2007—More than 43,000 people living in seven World Vision Bangladesh programme areas have been made homeless or had their home badly damaged by the massive Cyclone Sidr.

World Vision staff are now hard at work assessing needs and handing dry rations of rice, molasses or sugar to the survivors of the devastating cyclone which hit Bangladesh last night and is so far reported to have killed at 500 people.

Forty-five of these deaths are in World Vision's Area Development Programme (ADP) areas. The number of casualties is likely to increase as hundreds of people, including fishermen are still missing.

The seven programme areas are Aghailjhara, Mongla, Kotalipara, Chitalmari, Laudobe, Kalkini, and Muksudpur.

Vince Edwards, World Vision Bangladesh National Director, said: "There has been a serious impact on rice crops which would have been ready for harvesting next month. These crops have been seriously damaged. People's livelihoods are going to be very badly affected.

"Our relief teams have already started emergency distributions, with an initial coverage of 20,000 families. However, several areas are inaccessible due to fallen trees. Our teams are also trying to reach other areas to assess damage. I am in regular contact with our teams on the ground. At the moment, it looks like our major focus in coming days will be on shelter and on household livelihoods through agricultural interventions."

Government officials are reporting 60-70 percent of homes in the worst hit areas were destroyed. A surge of 5 metres was also reported.

Current World Vision distributions include two kilos of flattened rice and one kilo of molasses or sugar. World Vision staff also providing first aid to those hurt by falling trees or house parts.

The international relief and development agency is planning to provide 20,000 families (approximately 100,000 people) with 7-days packs of items that include rice, sugar, salt, candles, blankets and mattresses.

Before the cyclone hit - with wind speeds of up to 210 km per hour - World Vision programme staff helped evacuate hundreds of people to cyclone shelters, coordinating with government and trained volunteers. In total, some 600,000 in southern Bangladesh people were evacuated.

The country has been suffering from nationwide blackouts, telephone connections to affected regions are disrupted, mainland areas and delta islands are still cut off and Internet connections patchy.

More than 20,000 people took shelter in Mongla and Laudobe ADP areas in 31 World Vision Bangladesh-built cyclone shelters and schools that were designed to double as refuges.

World Vision relief staff are available for interviews. Please contact Rachel Wolff at 253.394.2214 or rwolff@worldvision.org or Casey Calamusa at 206.310.5476 or ccalamus@worldvision.org