The government has allocated huge fund, including Tk 9.5 crore from the chief adviser's relief fund and Tk 11 crore from food and disaster management ministry, for providing assistance to people affected by cyclone Sidr.
The disaster management ministry has allocated 3,000 tonnes of rice, 7,060 tents and 15,000 blankets for the people in 14 districts.
Besides, 732 medical teams, 12 helicopters of the air force and eight gunboats of the navy are working in the 15 districts affected by the tropical cyclone that lasted from Thursday evening to early yesterday morning.
The government, however, could not exactly measure the extent of losses of lives and properties as of yesterday, but it was primarily estimated that 233 people were killed in the affected districts except Barguna and Jhalakathi.
The exact figure of casualties and loss of properties could not be estimated in these two most affected districts. Quoting the Red Crescent, Acting Secretary to the food and disaster management ministry Aiyub Miah yesterday said 118 people were killed in Barguna alone.
The government has provided shelter for around 15 lakh of 33 lakh vulnerable people living in coastal areas at 2,168 centres, Aiyub said at a press briefing at the secretariat yesterday.
He admitted that they could not have the exact figure of losses of lives and resources as all kinds of communications, especially telecommunication, with the deputy commissioners of the affected districts collapsed due to the cyclone.
According to an official statement, 37 people were killed in Barisal, 33 in Patuakhali, 10 in Bhola, four in Pirojpur, 12 in Khulna, 43 in Bagerhat, three in Satkhira, 19 in Madaripur, 14 in Shariatpur, 25 in Gopalganj, two each in Faridpur and Narayanganj, four in Dhaka, three in Munshiganj, and one each in Jessore, Chittagong, Noakhali and Chandpur.
Most of these people died as a result of collapsing of house roofs, falling of trees and boat capsize in rivers, the statement said, adding that only four people died due to tidal surge in coastal areas.
"Cyclone Sidr first hit the land Thursday evening and swept over the country for seven-eight hours. The full tide came at 3:00am on Friday and for this reason tidal surge did not occur in coastal areas. If the tide and the cyclone had hit at the same time, the number of casualties and loss of properties would have been much higher," said Aiyub.
He said power supply to the southern districts has remained snapped since Thursday evening.
Besides the allocations, the government has taken sufficient measures to tackle the situation, Aiyub said, adding that the government has sufficient fund to provide food, clothes and other essentials. "We have allocated Tk 5-18 lakh for each affected district for providing food and relief," he said.
"The law enforcement agencies and the joint forces, the offices of disaster management, relief and rehabilitation and the Red Crescent are also assisting the cyclone affected people," he added.
High officials of the food and disaster management ministry and the Met office, including its Director Samarendra Karmakar, were present at the briefing.
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