Two weeks after Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, emergency relief is still desperately required. Norwegian Church Aid yesterday sent 5.5 tons of water purification equipment to Dhaka.

"People have lost everything they own and many are still living out in the open. The need for clean drinking water is acute in many areas, and sanitary conditions are as good as non-existent," says Norwegian Church Aid's hygiene expert Annbjørg Eltervåg in Bagherat district in southern Bangladesh. Eltervåg is in the region on a short-term mission with Norwegian Church Aid's emergency preparedness team.

Earlier this week, Norwegian Church Aid received a grant of NOK 2 million from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs towards the organisation's emergency response operation in Bangladesh. As a result, the organisation was able to send 5.5 tons of water purification equipment from Oslo Gardermoen airport to Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. The equipment will upon arrival be trucked out into the most severely affected areas of Bangladesh, where it will be used to provide clean drinking water for more than 40,000 people daily. A water systems engineer from Norwegian Church Aid's emergency preparedness team is already en route to the cyclone region to oversee the construction and running of the purification systems.

"The water sources we have observed are mostly polluted with refuse and wreckage caused by the cyclone. People have no access to clean water, and a very large proportion of those we have spoken to are fearful of the spread of water-borne diseases and epidemics, says Eltervåg. Together with Norwegian Church Aid's partner organisations, she is carrying out a needs assessment to help determine the extent and nature of assistance required. It is hard work.

"I met someone in the village of Moralinch yesterday who had lost family 26 members to the cyclone. Many are still searching for their loved ones, and the streets are full of mourners," says Eltervåg.

"Two weeks after the fatal cyclone hit, emergency relief is still urgently required in Bangladesh. The needs will be great for quite some time, because reconstruction and rehabilitation will take time, says Arild Isaksen, head of Norwegian Church Aid's emergency preparedness division in Oslo yesterday.

Just days after the cyclone struck, Norwegian Church Aid opened its emergency hotline for donations from the Norwegian public. The response has been very generous so far.


For more information, contact:

• Annbjørg Eltervåg, hygiene expert from NCAs emergency preparedness team, tel: (+47) 922 49 874, satellite telephone: (+8821) 65 420 1775
• Arild Isaksen, NCA head of emergency preparedness division, tel. (+47) 913 70 599
• Laurie MacGregor, press officer, tel: (+47) 932 42 491