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.