In devastated Bangladesh, a terrifying wait for help

NISHANBARI: Sattar Gazi doesn't have clothes to wrap the bodies of his dead family -- and not enough food and water for the ones who are still alive.   

"I lost six of my family members in the cyclone," he says, choked with grief at the devastation all around him. "I am afraid that the rest of us will die of hunger."   

Nishanbari, a picture of grinding poverty even at the best of times, has little left beyond human misery.   

A stench of death hangs heavy over the village, one of the many places in southern Bangladesh ravaged by Cyclone Sidr, which hit the country on Thursday night -- sweeping away entire villages in its path.   

Virtually nothing here has been left standing.   

The livestock are now bloated lumps floating in waterways and paddy fields. The bodies of dead people lay where they were tossed in the storm -- in fields, roads and even treetops.   

Rescue workers are racing to get aid to survivors. But with millions of people left homeless, most communication lines down and many roads blocked by the wreckage the storm left behind, help is slow in coming.    Surely it will arrive too late for some.   

"There is no food and drinking water. The whole village is unlivable. Bodies are still floating in the rivers and paddy fields," said Abdul Zabbar, a 50-year-old teacher.   

"And still, no relief officials and rescue officials have come to our area," he told an AFP correspondent, who spent two days travelling by motorcycle, bicycle and on foot to get to the area, 200 kilometres (130 miles) south of the capital Dhaka.   

The only pebble road to the outside world has been washed away. There are no aid workers in sight, not even the reassuring beat of helicopters or the roar of planes overhead.   

The only sound in one of the poorest places on the planet is that of weeping and wailing.    Mohammad Shahjahan, a 30-year-old farmer and fisherman, said that when he regained consciousness after the storm, he found himself stuck up a tree.   

"Two of us were washed into the jungle and found ourselves on top of a tree five hours later," he said.   

A 25-year-old woman, Jahanara, said she managed to cling to a tree, as the storm ripped away everything around her -- her husband, her two sons, her mother and even the clothes on her back.   

A brother and sister, nine-year-old Sonia and 11-year-old Mizanur, told of how they awoke after the storm huddled together in a paddy field far from their home. They are orphans now.   

The rice harvest was just 15 days away, but the paddy fields have been washed away by salt water from the Bay of Bengal that was carried in by the storm's powerful winds.   

With the fields gone, there will be no food for the next four months.  

The wells are also gone, so there is no drinking water.   

All the villagers can do now is search for their dead -- and wait for help.   

"There are still 3,000 people who are still alive," Sattar Gazi said.