Cyclone Sidr and Bangladesh

On November 15, tropical cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh with winds of 155 miles per hour and waves reported to be more than 10 feet high on the coast. More than 2,000 people are confirmed dead five days after the storm, and the Red Crescent Society of Bangladesh fears the death toll could reach 10,000. Approximately 3.2 million people have been directly affected by the storm. The storm destroyed houses, crops, fish farms, trees, poultry, and livestock; obstructed roadways and riverine passages; and affected electricity, communications services, and other utilities countrywide. Electrical power in the entire country (!) was out for more than a day after the cyclone hit.

Now the relief efforts begin. A number of countries, including the U.S., have pledged emergency assistance to Bangladesh. Much of America 's relief aid will be delivered by the U.S. military, which has the people, equipment, and budget to do this sort of work. Two U.S. Marine Corps C-130 aircraft with Humanitarian Assistance Survey Teams arrived in Dhaka on Monday; two Wasp-class amphibious assault ships in the region, the USS Essex and USS Kearsarge, will each bring 20 helicopters for relief-and-rescue operations to the southern coast of Bangladesh by the end of this week.

USAID is also doing its part. Patrick's colleagues are working to program $2 million in emergency funds to help provide help to those affected. Even before Sidr made landfall, USAID had boats, water treatment systems and water ambulances for emergency operations ready to go. In cooperation with CARE and Save the Children, USAID helped set up 30,000 emergency survival packages and food stockpiles for immediate distribution after the storm.

But relief after a disaster like this is different from development.

At Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricanes, Sidr was the worst storm to hit Bangladesh in over 10 years, but its aftermath could have been much, much worse. In 1970 cyclone Bhola, a Category 3 storm, killed 500,000 people. Gorky, almost identical in strength and path to Sidr, killed 140,000 people in 1991. So as strange as it may sound, even if the death toll reaches 10,000, that would be more than ten times lower than the previous big storm. Why the difference?

After the 1991 cyclone, USAID and other international aid groups helped the government of Bangladesh with disaster preparedness programs. The U.S. government helped fund the construction and maintenance of flood and cyclone shelters (they look like concrete warehouses on stilts), wave-protection walls and earthworks to reduce flood damage. That is the long-term work of development. In this case, it looks like 16 years of work may have saved thousands of lives in a matter of hours.

However, Sidr will continue to hurt Bangladesh for months. Thanks to its extremely fertile land and hard-working farmers, Bangladesh just about manages to produce enough food to feed its 150 million people. Sidr destroyed about 95% of the December rice crop in the south. That means that the "monga," or hunger, season of January-March -- traditionally the leanest time of the year for the poor of Bangladesh -- will be that much worse next year. The government of Bangladesh has some stockpiles it can distribute, but only time will tell whether that will be enough.

On a personal note, Jennifer was in Dhaka for the cyclone and the aftermath. There was a lot of wind and rain, and a number of downed trees, but Dhaka was not as badly hit as the southern coast. Thanks to everyone who wrote to make sure that we were OK.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed here are personal and do not reflect the official policy of USAID or the U.S. Government.)