The death toll in Monday's tropical cyclone 'Aila' jumped to 130 with rescuers retrieving more bodies from ravaged southwestern coastlines.
The death toll in Monday's tropical cyclone 'Aila' jumped to 130 with rescuers retrieving more bodies from ravaged southwestern coastlines where thousands others marooned people taking refuge on rooftops and rafts.
Disaster management ministry in Dhaka on Wednesday confirmed 106 deaths though unofficial reports put the toll as high as 130.
Officials here said the relief could not be reached many areas where nearly one lakh people lost their homes with onslaughts of wind-driven tidal waves collapsing dams and other flood control structures.
The district administration recorded 30 deaths in southwestern Shatkhira's Shyamnagar area along the Sundarbans mangrove forest following an embankment collapse.
"The armed forces and paramilitary coastguards are struggling to reach the relief materials in inaccessible areas using their vehicles and crafts," disaster management ministry spokeswoman Shaila Afroz said.
Witnesses and officials said the inflated waters infuriated further by the coincidence of the new moon ruptured the protection embankments killing people and washing away houses or mud huts.
They said at least 100 people were reported missing while thousands were forced to take refuge on tree or rooftops and float on rafts made out of bamboo or banyan trees. Though the water started receding, they were facing scarcity of drinking water and food.
"Water crisis seems to be the main problem in the coastal areas," Disaster Management minister Abdur Razzak told newsmen
after visiting the affected areas on Tuesday but added that some 278 water purification machines of the army were in operation.
The disaster management officials in Dhaka said they were assessing the extent of infrastructure damages and other losses but initially came out with an estimate that some 30 lakh people were affected by the tropical cyclone. Meteorologists earlier said packing winds up to 100 km per hour, the Aila crossed the Bangladesh coastlines on Monday with a radius of 300 kilometres but due to the coincidence of new moon, it inflated the sea waters creating higher tidal waves to batter a larger area.
The country, however, escaped its main brunt that hit the neighbouring West Bengal of India. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina had asked army and paramilitary forces to join hands with the local administration and non-government volunteers in rescue operations.
A cyclone 'Bijli' or thunder crossed Bangladesh coast killing at least six people and injuring several dozen others two months ago. The country witnessed the worst cyclone in the decade on November 15, 2007 when the killer 'Sidr' lashed the southwestern coast killing nearly 3,500 people.
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