The New Nation - Internet Edition

Shahidul Islam

The US Navy started airlifting urgently needed supplies of food and drinking water to thousands of survivors of the devastating cyclone in the coastal areas, while six huge military helicopters and a ship from Pakistan joined the relief operation and the third Indian airplane, carrying emergency supplies, arrived yesterday.

Two more US Navy ships-the USS Essex and the USS Tarawa, like the Kearsarge, anchored close to the southern coast, carrying helicopters, medical teams and with on board surgical facilities-were also due to arrive, said US Navy spokesperson Lieutenant Commander John Daniels in Washington, according to an AFP news dispatch.

One person was killed, three were missing and over 200 others wounded when a bridge collapsed into the river at Kalapara upazila of southern cyclone-hit Patuakhali district yesterday afternoon, as about 3,000 mostly hungry survivors thronged the bridge on the river after a vessel anchored there for distributing relief materials.

Journalists covering the disaster on the ground reported that over 1,800 survivors have been affected by diarrhoea in four worst storm-hit districts. Of them 1,000 in Barguna, 400 in Pirojpur, 250 in Bagerhat and 150 in Patuakhali districts.

More than 3,400 people died in the November 15 cyclone and millions of others have been left homeless, while standing aman and robi crops on nearly a million acres of land and another 2,75,000 acres of land partially destroyed, making millions of people complete destitute. It will take weeks to estimate the extent of the actual damage, officials in Dhaka said.

Secretary of the Ministry Disaster Management Mohammad Ayub Miah yesterday said offers of immediate international help continued to pour in with US470 millions dollars in aid already pledged by donor countries and agencies.

The donors and aid agencies were ready to provide mid and long-term aid to recover the damage wrought by the cyclone once the actual estimate is made, he added.

The Bangladesh military continued to ferry food and clothing to the cyclone zone. Helicopters continued to carry out relief work in remote areas, where the cyclone had uprooted tall trees, blown off tin roofs and flattened acres of rice and vegetable fields.

US Navy personnel, numbering over 3,000, from the USS Kearsarge were carrying out medical evacuations and transporting water to some of the worst-affected coastal areas, a US embassy spokesman said.

The US Navy has set up a temporary headquarters in Barisal, which is also an operation headquarters of the Bangladesh's Joint Forces for rescue and relief operation.

The US Navy ships-the USS Essex and the USS Tarawa-are expected to carry more emergency supplies, including food, medicine, water treatment plants and medical personnel.

Severe logistical problems have dogged relief efforts, leaving villagers desperately short of water, food, medicine and kerosene to lit lamps for more than a week after the killer storm struck, journalists reported from the cyclone hit areas.

They said that villagers nearer to the Sundarbans said there were hundreds of bodies of dead people either floating in the rivers or lying on the ground inside the mangrove forest. They could neither collect nor burry the bodies due to the fear of the Royal Bengal Tigers, who have now became man-eaters after the cyclone.

The shortage of clean water was one of the main problems confronting survivors who also faced the risk of outbreaks of water-borne disease, relief workers said.

Difficulties were greatest in the hardest-hit coastal areas where drinking water was usually supplied by surface water that had been contaminated by saline water.

Meanwhile, relief materials donated by the Indian government had arrived in Dhaka for the third day yesterday.

So far three Indian aircraft carrying packets of ready meals, water filters, tents and medicines had been delivered till yesterday. The third IL-76 aircraft of Indian Air Force, carrying relief assistance weighing about 41.07 tons, arrived here yesterday. This relief is part of the Indian government's 'Operation Sahayata (help)' it launched to provide relief materials to Bangladesh's cyclone victims.

Under the operation, relief assistance worth Tk 5.2 crore is being provided, an Indian High Commission release said, adding the relief materials the IL-76 aircraft carried yesterday included 21.2 tons of meal-ready-to-eat (MRE) (9,920 packets) consisting of rice, suji halwa, dal, chapattis, tea rations, including milk and sugar, hexamine tablets for heating and a small cooker, 5,000 portable water purifiers, 100 tents, 2250 blankets and 1500 kgs of medicine.

A 75-member Pakistan army medical team led by a Army General also arrived along with 15 tonnes of medicine and equipment to set up a field hospital, said Armed Forces spokesman Major Nawrose, who uses one name.

Two more C-130 aircraft of Pakistan Air Force, carrying medicines, medical equipment and 24 paramedics, reached Barisal yesterday for providing medical treatment to the cyclone victims.

Another two Pakistani C-130 aircraft, carrying a 30-bed mobile field hospital and 55 doctors and nurses, arrived in Barisal Friday to set up medical camps for the treatment of cyclone victims in Patuakhali district. So far, six C-130 Pakistani aircraft, carrying 89 doctors and nurses and relief goods such as tents, food items, blankets, medicines and medical equipment, have been sent to Bangladesh for the cyclone victims.

Besides, a Pakistani Navy ship, 'PNS Nasr', will set up a medical camp at a suitable place in the cyclone-affected area. The ship will also distribute food among the people. Another ship carrying relief goods and food will sail for Bangladesh from Karachi shortly, Major Nawrose said.

Patuakhali Correspondent

At least three people died and more than 200 were injured in a bridge collapse at Kalapara, about 70km south of Patuakhali district headquarter, when some 400 cyclone victims were stampeding for relief yesterday afternoon.

Khalilur Rahman Howlader, 40, a rickshawpuller and son of Abdul Hamid Howlader of village Gandhapara under Chakmaiya union, died on the spot, while three others succumbed to their injuries later. They were identified as Delwar Hossain, 30, Sumon, 13, and Zakir Hossain, 35.

The concrete-made cyclone-battered bridge on Nishanbaria Canal in Chakmaiya union under Kalapara upazila suddenly collapsed at about 1:15pm under the weight of hundreds of hungry cyclone victims who thronged there for relief goods, witnesses said.

Police said that about 400 cyclone survivors thronged the bridge for arrival of relief. After distribution of relief among 50 people the overloaded bridge collapsed. Almost dead now the canal has around neck-deep water.

Officials of ScanCement, a foreign cement manufacturing company, was distributing relief goods including rice at one end of the bridge when the accident took place.

Ranjit Kumar, upazila nirbahi officer of Kalapara, said they found only one body. The UNO said the ScanCement arranged relief distribution work without taking permission from the local administration.

Dozens of injured people were admitted to Kalapara Health Complex while many others were given first aid.

Of the injured, 30 were rushed to Barisal Medical College Hospital in

critical condition.

Rescuers removed fallen concrete slabs to search for people feared crushed underneath, while frantic villagers gathered around the site on the river bank.

Many came from remote areas hoping for food handouts from the government and non-governmental organisations.

"We have walked for several kilometres to reach this river bank to get some food because relief operators just distribute to the people on the banks and roadside," said Marzina Begum, who lost her son and husband in the storm. "They don't think there are many survivors in the remote areas," she said.

Teams of army, navy, police and Fire Brigade were still searching the

three missing people.

Relief distributors of ScanCement, manufactured by Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Ltd fled the scene after the accident. Officials said they did not inform the local administration about the relief operation.

BSS, Dhaka

The government has opened a coordination office in Barisal to monitor the overall relief and rehabilitation activities in the hurricane Sidr-hit areas at the coastal areas of the country.

The coordination office will be headed by Communication Adviser Maj Gen (Retd) MA Matin. Local administration and GOC of the concerned area will assist him.

It was informed yesterday at a special meeting of the Council of Advisers held here at the Chief Adviser's office. Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed chaired the meeting that reviewed overall relief and rehabilitation activities in the cyclone hit areas. Members of the Advisory Council attended it. PSO of the Armed Forces Division Lt Gen Masud Uddin Chowdhury was present in the meeting at special invitation.

After the meeting, Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim told the journalists that the Advisers responsible for particular cyclone ravaged areas shared their experiences in the meeting and informed of ongoing relief and rehabilitation activities in the post cyclone period.

It has reviewed the multifarious relief activities that included food, drinking water, shelter, house reconstruction, medicare , logistics, salinity, urgent repair, communication and power supply restoration.

The meeting was apprised that the civil administration and the Armed Forces are working together relentlessly to mitigate the sufferings of the cyclone hit people. Medical teams are providing emergency health care services.

It was informed that special VGF programme for over 25 lakh people in the cyclone hit areas has been extended from next December to March for benefit of the marginal people. The meeting approved a decision to use Taka 90 crore of the Ministry of Education for repairing cyclone-hit educational institutions, transferring the amount from revenue to non-government sector.

It was apprised that power supply has so far been restored in 41 cyclone hit upazilas out of 56 and by November 30 all the localities will have power supply excepting a few.

Emphasizing on readiness to face any future calamity, the meeting put stress on the follow up activities like infrastructural development in the coastal belt including reconstruction of embankment, cyclone shelter and cattle shelter.

The meeting was informed that crops of about 26 lakh hectares have been damaged by the devastating sea storm. The government has taken various steps to rehabilitate the farmers and the fishermen in the coastal belt by providing them credit.

The meeting put stress on improving the advance warning system and to make it simpler and rationale so that more people can follow it easily. It also discussed about introduction of community radio in the coastal belt to make people aware.

The meeting dicided to form a high level technical committee to develop infrastructure in the coastal belt. It was informed that 14 helicopters from the US naval ship have been engaged in relief operation. US water purification plants are also operating. Medical team from Pakistan has also started providing emergency health services.

The Cabinet Secretary, and the Secretaries concerned were present.

Sydney, Australia

Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australian elections Saturday, ending an 11-year conservative era and promising major changes to policies on global warming and his country's role in the Iraq war.

"Today Australia has looked to the future," Rudd said in a nationally televised victory speech, to wild cheers from supporters. "Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward t to embrace the future, together to write a new page in our nation's history."

The win marked a humiliating end to the career of outgoing Prime Minister John Howard, who became Australia's second-longest serving leader - and who had appeared almost unassailable as little as a year ago.

In a nationally televised concession speech, Howard announced he had phoned Rudd to congratulate him on "a very emphatic victory."

"I accept full responsibility for the Liberal Party campaign, and I therefore accept full responsibility for the coalition's defeat in this election campaign," Howard said.

Howard also admitted he was likely to lose his seat in Parliament, becoming only the second sitting prime minister in 106 years of federal government to do so.

Official figures from the Australian Electoral Commission showed Labor well ahead with more than 70 percent of the ballots counted. An Australian Broadcasting Corp. analysis showed that Labor would get at least 81 places in the 150-seat lower house of Parliament - a clear majority.

ABC radio reported that Howard aides said the prime minister had phoned Rudd to concede defeat. Rudd was expected to formally claim victory later Saturday.

The change in government from Howard's center-right Liberal-National Party coalition to the center-left Labor Party also marks a generational shift for Australia.

Rudd, a 50-year-old former diplomat who speaks fluent Chinese, urged voters to support him because Howard was out of touch with modern Australia and ill-equipped to deal with new-age issues such as climate change.

Howard campaigned on his economic management, arguing that his government was mostly responsible for 17 years of unbroken growth, fueled by China's and India's hunger for Australia's coal and other minerals, and that Rudd could not be trusted to maintain prosperous times.

Rudd said he would withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq, leaving twice that number in mostly security roles. Howard had said all the troops will stay as long as needed.

However, a new government is unlikely to mean a major change in Australia's foreign relations, including with the United States - its most important security partner - or with Asia, which is increasingly important for the economy.

But one of the biggest changes will be in Australia's approach to climate change. Rudd has nominated the issue as his top priority, and promises to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.

When he does so, the United States will stand alone as the only industrialized country not to have signed the pact.

Labor has been out of power for more than a decade, and few in Rudd's team - including him - has any government experience at federal level. His team includes a former rock star - Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett - and a swag of former union officials.

But analysts say his foreign policy credentials are impeccable, and that he has shown discipline and political skill since his election as Labor leader 11 months ago.

Rudd's election as Labor leader marked the start of Howard's decline in opinion polls, from which he never recovered.

Howard's four straight election victories since 1996 made him one of Australia's most successful politicians. He refused to stand down before this election - even after being urged to do by some party colleagues. However, Howard earlier this year announced plans to retire within about two years if he won the election.

Staff Reporter

Experts and representatives of the civil society urged the government to construct sufficient number of cyclone centres and embankments in the coastal regions and ensure maintenance of these to reduce the risk of disaster in the country.

They also urged the Government to organise discussions on climate change and implement its recommendations and set up community-based radio stations to reduce the impact of natural calamities on life and property.

They underscored the need for increasing defence and rehabilitation budgets and plantation of the trees, which can protect soil from erosion like coconut and plum trees.

The government should study the losses that may occur in the agricultural sector due to climate change in Bangladesh and guarantee alternative solutions following such disasters, speakers said.

They urged the government to stop corporatisation of agriculture, ensure preservation of local seeds and its use at government level and also increase investment in this sector.

The roundtable on 'Bali Conference on the UN's Environment Related Issues: Risk and Losses of Global Climate' jointly organised by COAST and Equity and Justice Working Group (EJWG) at the National Press Club yesterday.

Gawhar Naim Wara, President of Bangladesh Disaster Forum, Prof Dr Mehedi Ahmed Ansari, Project Director of Bangladesh Network Office for Urban Study, AHM Bazlur Rahman, CEO of Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication, among others, spoke, while Shamsudoha of EJWG, presented key-note paper.

The coastal regions occupy 32 per cent of the country's land and about 3.5 crore people live there, which is about 28 per cent of the total population. Some 54 per cent families, who are living in the coastal region, possess no usable land. Within the year 2020, population of the coastal region will reach 4.5 crore mark. As a result, the number of agriculture-based families will decrease, one of the speakers said.

At present, in Bangladesh due to global climate change, hydro-metrological disasters like drought, flood and cyclone have increased over geographical disasters like earthquake and tsunami. As a result, danger of over flooding of low land will increase by 29 per cent and sandy beaches from Cox's Bazar to Badarmokam will go under water, he added.

Land redemption is essential for facing disasters in the country. If height of the sea level increases by one metre, the total crop production of the country would be reduced from 28 to 57 per cent, speakers said.

They urged the government to decrease the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in agriculture and stop introduction of hybrid varieties of crops for the sake of soil fertility of the agricultural land in the country.

To face global climate change, we need effective partnership for the global carbon trade and forming an alliance among the developing countries, which would be affected by GHG, and to pressurise the industrialised countries to reduce this outflow, speakers said.

BSS, Rajshahi

Verdict of the much talked about case filed against six teachers of Rajshahi University (RU) is likely to be pronounced today.

Police had lodged the case on charge of their involvement in bringing out procession violating Emergency Power Rules- 2007 in RU campus and allegedly instigating students in creating vandalism on August 21 and 22 last.

After completing investigation into the case, police submitted charge sheet under section 3(4), 4(3) and 8(2) of the Emergency Power Rules 2007 accusing them.

The teachers are: former Vice-Chancellor of RU Professor Dr Saidur Rahman Khan, Professor Dr Abdus Sobhan of Applied Physics and Electronics Department, Associate Professor and Chairman of Management Department Moloy Kumar Bhowmik and Assistant Professors of Mass Communication Department Selim Reza Neuton, Dulal Chandra Bishwas and Abdullah Al Mamun. All are in jail at present.

After recording argument proceedings on Tuesday last, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ruhul Amin fixed the judgement date. Earlier, the court recorded depositions of 23 prosecution witnesses.

Court Sub-Inspector of Police Shamsul Alam appeared in the case on behalf of the state while seven lawyers of the local Bar led by Golam Arif Tipu defended the accused teachers.

Staff Reporter

Disbursement of agricultural credit by the banks is paradoxically very low when farmers are hungry for money for fresh cropping and when huge money is lying idle with the banks.

Time and again directives of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), in this regard, is also not heeded. BB, which set a target for the banks to disburse Tk 8,192 crore farm loan for post-flood recovery, recently renewed its directive to increase farm loan and ensure easy access to money for the cyclone hit farmers of the south-western districts.

BB asked the banks to relax the condition of down payments in loan rescheduling and to disburse fresh loans as soon as possible.

However, knowledgeable sources are not optimistic about any satisfactory result with it as the banks so far have disbursed only Tk 1,306 crore 17 per cent of the target -in the first four months (July-October) of the ongoing fiscal year.

Chasing a target of Tk 625 crore Sonali Bank achieved 13 per cent. Janata Bank chasing Tk 525 crore achieved 15 per cent, Agrani Bank accomplished seven per cent of its Tk 480 crore target, Krishi Bank attained 19 per cent of its Tk 3,800 crore target and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank could disburse 24 per cent of its Tk 800 crore target.

On the other hand, according to the BB statistics, excess liquidity with all scheduled banks stood at Tk 142.84 billion by the end July 2007 against Tk142.79 billion at the end of June 2007.

Private commercial banks of the country are not used to give agro-credit, for they have no branches in the rural area. So, only public banks and NGOs are the sources of credit for the rural poor.

Explaining the reason behind low disbursement of agricultural credit, renowned banker Khondokar Ibrahim Khaled said, "Managements of public banks are not interested to release farm loans, for they have earlier found that its recovery rate is not satisfactory."

"The blame goes to the management when the loan turns into bad. Government does not want to subsidise for the bad loan. So bank managements are not interested in massive disbursement," he said.

The former deputy governor of the central bank suggested the government to take 50 per cent liability for the disbursed amount. Otherwise, only pressure will not be effective, he said.

The central bank recently warned of punitive action against commercial banks if it finds negligence in their duty to provide agricultural loans to farmers.

Khondkar Khalid said, "I think loan is not the immediate need of the people, who have been battered by cyclone. They need grant. Disbursement of crop loan will be important after two or three months.

Cyclone damaged standing crops on around 0.5 million hectares of land in the south and south-western districts, causing rice crop loss of around 0.6 million tones, particularly the aman paddy, according to the initial assessment by the Government.