Vatican City, 28 November 2007 - The Caritas Confederation of 162 Catholic aid agencies says it needs US $9.5 million (Euro 6.5 million) for the immediate relief and long-term rehabilitation following Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh.

The cyclone hit Bangladesh on 15 November, leaving over 3,100 people dead, tens of thousands of homes destroyed, and vast stretches of arable land damaged.

The death toll would have been higher still without the 2000 cyclone shelters in Bangladesh, 222 of which were constructed by Caritas following a cyclone which killed 140,000 people in 1991.

Caritas is already distributing food rations to at least 250,000 people (51,000 families) and will provide essential relief items such as water containers, plastic sheeting, cooking utensils and bedding to over 24,000 families. Caritas will provide 4,500 families with basic equipment and support to kick-start their economic recovery. Caritas also plans to repair or rebuild ten thousand homes and 57 schools. Caritas plans to construct another 50 cyclone shelters over the coming 2 years.

Caritas Bangladesh Executive Director Dr Benedict Alo D'Rozario said, "Caritas is already working in some of the worst affected areas providing immediate relief to the survivors of Cyclone Sidr. We have carried out assessments and know these funds are needed. This tragedy has affected the poorest of the poor, forced to live in these unsafe areas out of economic necessity."

Caritas teams carried out assessments in five of some of the worst affected districts in the Khulna and Barisal. They found:

• On food, people had taken stores with them for the first few days but now those supplies are running out.
• On shelter, in some areas more than 25 percent of all homes were destroyed leaving people with no possibility to return from the cyclone shelters.
• On clean water, latrines have been damaged or destroyed and water sources such as ponds have also been made unusable. 
• On employment, almost everyone has lost their means of earning a living. Much of the area was converted to prawn farming, 90 percent of which has been destroyed, leaving farmers in a crisis.  Poultry, livestock, grain and seed supplies have all been lost.  
• On education, in the areas visited 14 schools for underprivileged children have been destroyed and 43 damaged. 
• On disaster preparedness, shelters were destroyed and although lives were saved, fewer could have been lost with an estimated 1000 more shelters.

Please contact Patrick Nicholson on 0039 06 69879725 or 0039 3343590700 or nicholson@caritas.va