Ignoring the protest and demonstration of hundreds of art connoisseurs, ten crates containing 189 rare and invaluable archeological artifacts of Bangladesh were taken out of the National Museum yesterday morning and sent to the Zia International Airport amid heavy police presence.

These artifacts, representing Bangladesh’s ancient history, will be bound for Guimet Museum in Paris, via a Air France flight (AF 6731) 12:05pm today.

Breaking the emergency rule, protesters assembled in front of the National Museum gate at Shahbagh in the morning learning that the artifacts were being removed from the National Museum secretly.

Witnesses said the artifacts were removed through a large covered van and forklift truck of Homebound Packers and Shippers at the order by the French Embassy in Dhaka.

Trucks and forklift went to the National Museum premises secretly in the early hours of morning. But the news leaked and protesters gathered thronged outside the museum. Under heavy police presence Homebound vehicles (Dhaka Metro Uma 11-0814, Pho 11-3634, U 14-0187) and forklift truck, bearing “Save The Children Cyclone and USAID Sidr Emergency Relief” signs were used to take away the priceless items. As the protesters were watching as the artifacts being loaded onto Homebound trucks, they requested the media to disseminate the news and prevent the artifacts from being taken away in such a manner.

At one stage, the protesters, including artists, archeologists and students of the nearby Fine Arts Institute locked in a clash with police when they tried to intercept the Homebound covered van to take out the artifacts. Police also charged batons on the protesters when they pelted brickbats on the police.

Shekhar Shashwata, an archeologist was arrested by police, while some media professionals were roughed up. Later, the protesters were able to get Shekhar released from the Shahbagh police custody. He was released upon a signed undertaking by those demanding his release.

Shahbagh thana officer Morshed who arrested Shekhar, claimed he “knew nothing about what was happening across the road.”

The artifacts were collected from five different museums in the country–National Museum in Dhaka, Barind Research Museum in Rajshahi, Mahasthangarh Archaeological Museum, Mainamoti Archaeological Museum and Paharpur Archaeological Museum. Amongst the objects are one copy of Prajna Paramita (Buddhist manuscript), terracotta heads dating back to the 4th century, bronze sculpture of Lokanath of the 8th century, stone sculptures of Nataraj, Mahamaya, Chamunda, Kalyansundar, Panchamukha Shiblinga, Surja, Nabagraha, Shyamatara, Marichi and others of the 10th century.

The artifacts also include a wood sculpture of Lokanath of the 11th century and headgear of the 2nd Shah Abbas of Persia of the 18th century.

Bangladesh, Friday, November 30, 2007

Ruining the beautiful, green landscape, cyclone Sidr has dealt a severe blow to the Sundarbans, destroying 1,528 square kilometres of the forest out of around 6,000 square kilometres, according to forest officials’ primary assessment.

Of the devastated areas totalling about one-fourth of the forest, 1,200 square kilometres are land and the rest water bodies.

The officials assess that more than Tk 1,000 crore worth of forest resources have been lost in addition to another Tk 20 crore in infrastructure damage.

Though a chunk of the forest has been completely destroyed carcasses of only one tiger, 38 deer and one monkey have so far been recovered, officials say.

The situation is so bad that the Department of Forest is considering not permitting anyone to collect nypah, goran and honey from the Sundarbans this year.

Every year, the government earns Tk 60-65 lakh in revenue by giving permission to honey and nypah collectors.

The forest officials say the devastation is severe and it will take years to recover from the loss. Special attention from both home and abroad to restoration is also required, they add.

“It will take years to restore the forest to its previous state. We need national and international support to recover from the loss occurred there,” Chief Forest Conservator AKM Shamsuddin told The Daily Star.

“A programme officer from the Unicef will visit the forest tomorrow [today] to see the devastation of the world natural heritage site,” he added.

During a visit to the Terabeka point in the Sundarbans, it was found that trees were shorn of leaves, with most of them either uprooted or twisted.

According to the officials, the Department of Forest is mulling restoration plans for the Sundarbans in three phases.

Their plans include rebuilding infrastructure and arranging supply of drinking water at different forest beat offices in the initial stage.

The sources say 90 percent accommodation facilities for the 1,100-strong forest officials there have been completely destroyed. The government is going to allocate Tk 34 crore in the initial stage.

The officials say they need to run assisted natural regeneration (ANR) programme as the forest’s ground surface is covered up by leaves and other rubbish.

“So we might launch cleaning operation on the ground so that seeds anchor on the forest land and regenerate the forest automatically,” said the chief conservator.

“If we find automatic regeneration is not working properly, we would go for enrichment plantation of the Sundarbans species including nypah, sundari and goran in the forest.”

Seedling time of keora, one of the largest tree species in the Sundarbans, starts in April, May and June. Experts from the forest department express the hope the regeneration process will start within one year.

Besides, the forest officials say they are going to launch a prey survey on deer, wild boars and rhesus monkeys.

Some experts, the forest conservator said, have advised to provide food for the wildlife in the Sundarbans, but that might change the food habit of the carnivorous animals.

Sources say the government is looking forward to doing everything to restore the world heritage site.

However, a number of experts from non-government sector express their concern that the government has to ensure the forest officials don’t take it as an opportunity to make quick money from felled trees.

“Over the years, the forest officials have been felling trees in the Sundarbans. This time the government should monitor it so that they just don’t fell trees and sell those,” said a high official of a private organisation who has been working on the Sundarbans for years

Donor countries are actively considering the government’s request for 500,000 tons of food assistance to recoup food shortage caused by the cyclone SIDR.

British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury and European Commission Head of the Delegation Ambassador Dr Stefan Frowein have separately assured Bangladesh in this regard.

Addressing a view-exchange meeting with journalists at his residence yesterday Anwar Choudhury said they are looking into the matter urgently. “We are looking into the request with urgency,” he said.

Preferring to provide cash instead of goods, the British High Commissioner said, the decision in this regard would be taken soon.

He emphasised the need for taking action first and observed that buying food would involve much time in shipment and delivery to the affected people.

The British envoy said along with the government they would take the assistance of NGOs for the distribution of relief materials in the cyclone-hit areas.

Asked whether the state of emergency should be lifted for the political leaders to take part in relief distribution, he said that he did not think that the state of emergency is creating any restriction to relief distribution.

He, however, said that there should be an environment where everyone could be able to distribute relief materials freely.

“It is the government’s decision when to lift the state of emergency,” he said.

On the adverse impact of climate change particularly in developing countries the High Commissioner said all should work together to compensate the victims.

He said that a British aircraft was due in Dhaka Wednesday night and ferry relief materials from Friday.

The meeting was also addressed by Deputy Country Representative of DFID Sarah Sanyahumbi and Head of Press and Public Affairs of the British High Commission William Arunall-Culliford.

Meanwhile, Dr Stefan Frowein while addressing a meeting with the members of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association Bangladesh (DCA at hotel Sheraton yesterday said they would help Bangladesh so that it does not face big trouble due to shortage of food.

Dr Stefan Frowein in his written statement said, “A return to the street confrontational and irreconcilable party politics which characterises the pre-1/11 era would be catastrophic for Bangladesh.

Referring to government appeal for food aid he said the donors community is coming forward to help Bangladesh procure its required quantity of foodgrain.

He said there is a proposal that WFP be given the task of procuring the required quantity of foodgrain to avoid hassle in procurement.

A delegation from the EU will be coming to Dhaka on a 2-week mission to assess the cyclone damages and the post-cyclone rehabilitation needs.

Asked whether Bangladesh should be compensated for the cyclone damage by those developed nations responsible for climate change, he said scientifically there might not be a direct link between climate change and cyclone SIDR.

However, he hastened to add that global warming is causing rise in sea level for which Bangladesh and the Maldives would be the first victims in Asia.

The Ambassador said the EU would ensure Bangladesh’s participation in all discussions on climate change and its impacts.

On lifting of the state of emergency, Dr Frowein said, ” We are not feeling fine with the state of emergency but it is a decision to be taken by the government and the people.”

Dr Frowein, however, said the state of emergency here is being handled in a very pragmatic way and appreciated the 11-member caretaker government for running the country efficiently.

The Ambassador appreciated the sterling work of the Election Commission, government officials and the military in rising up to the challenge of producing a verifiable fair voter list with photographs.

DCAB president Anis Alamgir chaired the DCAB Talk while general secretary Rahit Ijaj made welcome remarks.

Bangladesh, Thursday, November 29, 2007

A special meeting of the Council of Advisers yesterday approved the list of holidays for the coming year, dropping the November 7 holiday.

Chaired by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, the meeting approved the holidays in the 2008 calendar retaining those in this year’s calendar, excepting the holiday on November 7.

The meeting was told that work for formulation of a project proposal to construct 500 more multipurpose cyclone shelters has started.

It was also suggested that steps could be taken to construct 500 shelters for domestic animals.

The meeting was informed that the education ministry would quickly send Tk 2 lakh for buying textbooks for the SSC and HSC examinees. It was also decided that cyclone-affected SSC and HSC candidates for 2008 examinations will fill up forms without fee.

An allocation of Tk 45 core was given on upazila basis for repairing primary schools. Date of annual examination will be fixed consulting local DC and authorities concerned.

The primary scholarship examination has been shifted to mid-January from previously scheduled mid-December.

The finance ministry has allocated an additional amount of Tk 50 core for reconstruction of damaged communications and power infrastructures and arrangement for ensuring drinking water, it was informed in the meeting.

FE Report

Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury said Wednesday shaping Bangladesh as a corruption-free nation would largely depend on the quality of future leadership.

“The matter with regard to shaping the future of Bangladesh depends largely on the quality of future leadership… And the leadership will have to be free from corruption,” he said.

Mashhud was speaking on “The role of the ACC in Shaping the Future of Bangladesh” at the monthly luncheon meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) held at Hotel Sheraton in the city with the AmCham President Syed Ershad Ahmed in the chair.

The continuation of current drive against corruption also depends on the willingness and support of the people of Bangladesh, he said while responding to a query about the future of the ACC’s anti-graft drive under the next political government.

“If the people want the ACC to function effectively, definitely, it will do so,” he said, adding that the people should work together to make the Commission more functional and effective.

Mashhud said the ACC is doing its jobs keeping two main objectives - prosecution and prevention - in mind.

On the one hand, the Commission is pursuing all the corruption-related cases for justice, it is continuing the campaign against corruption on the other, he observed.

“The main objective of the ACC is to ensure good governance and accountability by eliminating corruption from the society and we are closely working with the Transparency International, Bangladesh (TI for achieving such goals,” he said, adding.

Referring to the TIB’s figures, the ACC chairman said Bangladesh suffers losses to the tune of Tk 70 billion per annum because of corruption. With that amount, 800 rural hospitals and 12000 primary schools could be built, he said.

Responding to a question about the selection process of graft cases, Mashhud said, “We have not only made our office transparent, but also we are dealing with such cases fairly.”

Replying to another question, he said, “I do not believe in the existing official secrecy act… And also the people do not like such law.”

He also expressed the hope that the government would definitely formulate a new law that will ensure the people’s access to information.

Syed Zahirul Abedin
The New Nation

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday hailed the country’s political parties for launching relief operations among the cyclone-affected people in the southern districts.

On the other hand, Communications Adviser Major General MA Matin said the foreign forces, including the US Marines were delivering food, water and medical supplies to the cyclone-affected areas along with the Bangladesh defence forces.

Charge d Affaires of the US Embassy in Bangladesh Geeta Pasi assured of continuous help for the cyclone-affected people of Bangladesh.

After visiting different cyclone affected areas, including Swarankhola in Bagerhat, Mathbaria in Pirojpur and Amuya under Kathalia upazila in Jhalakathi yesterday, Dr Fakhruddin was replying the queries of journalists at the Central Relief and Rehabilitation Coordination Center premises at Barisal Airport yesterday afternoon.

The Chief Adviser hailed starting relief distribution work by different political parties and organisations saying that it was the duties and responsibilities of political parties to stand beside the distressed people and help them to overcome the crisis. The political parties would be benefited in the long run for their tasks for this noble cause.

He also urged the political parties to carry out their relief activities in coordination with local administration and local government.

Communications Adviser and Chief Coordinator of Relief and Rehabilitation Work Major General (Retd) MA Matin, GOC of 55 Division of Bangladesh Army Major General Rafiqul Islam, senior officials of the district and divisional administration and Armed Forces were present during the press briefing of the Chief Adviser at Barisal Airport.

Meanwhile, US Charge d Affairs Geeta Pasi said yesterday that Bangladesh was a good friend of the United States and the assistance for the distressed people in the cyclone-affected areas of Bangladesh would continue as long as they needed.

While talking with journalists at Barisal Airport, she said both the United States and Bangladesh had been working side by side over the years, including the all times of joy and sorrow.

“The United States feels very anxiousness about the Sidr hit people of Bangladesh and the US forces are carrying out relief operations under the guidance of the Bangladesh government, and they are accompanied by the Bangladeshi officials to the affected areas,” she said.

“We’re satisfied about the relief and rehabilitation activities and steps taken by the Bangladesh government in before and after the cyclone Sidr as well as their success in disaster management.

The US will provide additional 10 million dollars to help distressed people,” she also said.

Brigadier General Ronald L Bailey, Brigade Commander of the Third Marine Expeditionary Brigade of the USA, also accompanied the US envoy to the affected areas during her visits.

Meanwhile, Communi-cations Adviser Major General MA Matin said yesterday that there was no scope of raising controversies about the movement of foreign forces in the cyclone Sidr affected areas.

Reiterating his earlier comments, Matin said the foreign forces, including US Marines came to serve the distressed people in Bangladesh and would not stay for a single more day than required for relief and rehabilitation operations.

Meanwhile, the US Navy helicopters yesterday resumed delivery of emergency supplies to survivors of the deadly cyclone along the country’s southern coast in a joint relief operation, officials said.

Helicopters from the USS Kearsarge started airlifting 5,000 water containers on Monday to remote areas of Dublar Char, Bagherat and Barguna, the worst affected districts in the November 15 cyclone that killed more than 3,200 people.

Survivors of the storm, many of them without food, water or shelter, welcomed the aid.

“They have come all the way from a distant country to help us. It is a blessing from Allah,” said Abdus Salam, a 65-year-old farmer in Barguna district.

“They are bringing us water and food. That is what we now need most,” said Salam, who lost two children in the cyclone.

In the coming days, US troops also will deliver food and other supplies, help set up water purification plants and provide medical care to victims.

“I believe our operation is going very well,” said Rear Admiral Carol Pottenger, the commander of USS Kearsarge, yesterday.

Pottenger said her teams are working in cooperation with Bangladeshi authorities. Clean water, medicines and food remain the most priority need for the desperate survivors, she said.

Bangladesh has received pledges of international aid of more than $500 million, including $250 million from the World Bank.

The US will also help airlift 160 tons of relief goods from Bangladeshi government supplies, the American Embassy said.

A US military KC-130 aircraft arrived at the Zia International Airport to deliver water purification systems to affected areas. A second American ship, the USNS Concord, was nearby to re-supply the Kearsarge, the US Embassy said.

With many wells destroyed by the cyclone, there was a critical need for clean water to prevent the spread of cholera and diarrhea.

The US Embassy also said an Army medical team that had been in Bangladesh on a separate mission was deployed to Pataukhali district along with medics from the Kearsarge.

The Bangladesh military is constructing more than 200 helipads in the coastal region, said the US Embassy sources. The government will give loans and materials to rebuild homes, a source said. More than 4,50,000 homes were damaged by the cyclone.

At least 13 Bangladesh navy ships also were involved in relief work, distributing food and clothes. India and Pakistan have also sent military planes and hospital ships.

The Asian Development Bank said natural disasters in Bangladesh this year might bring down the country’s GDP growth to below 6 per cent, from 6.5 percent predicted earlier.

The ADB said economic losses from floods have amounted to $1.4 billion. The bank was still assessing the losses from the latest cyclone.

Communications Adviser Major General (Retd) MA Matin who has set up field office in Barisal, said yesterday that foreign forces, including US Marines, have come to Bangladesh to serve the distressed people and will not stay a single day more than required for relief and rehabilitation work.
The Adviser, also in charge of coordinating relief and rehabilitation activities in the cyclone-affected areas, made the observations at Barisal Airport on Monday noon during a short break on his way to Barguna.

Narrating his experience gained during the 1991 cyclone, General Matin said that time also the US armed forces had stood by the affected people of this country.

“At that time we gathered experience from the US force-what they did within 10 to 12 days would have taken many more days,” he said.

“They are serving the people here. So there is no scope for any confusion or question about the aims, work and stay of the foreign forces in Bangladesh,” said General Matin, who also heads the national coordination committee on grave offences.

The post-cyclone relief operation in the Sidr battered coastal belt of the country received a new boost yesterday with the involvement of the US marines in the operation.

A Pakistani medical team led by Lt Col Shawkat of Pakistan Army was providing free medical services in the cyclone-affected area. Two Pakistan Navy ships -PNS Nasr and PNS Shahjahan - are expected to reach Chittagong today on a four-day goodwill mission they will distribute relief materials, medicines and establish water purification plants in coordination with Bangladesh Navy.
A coordination meeting on the joint relief operation of the Bangladesh and USA in the cyclone affected area was held in the Army Headquarter in the city yesterday.

Chaired by Army Chief Moeen U Ahmed, the meeting was attended, among others, from Bangladesh side by PSO of the Armed Forces Division Lt Gen Masud Uddin Chowdhury, Chief of General Staff Major General Sinha Ibne Jamali, and from US side Charge d’ Affaires US Embassy in Dhaka Geeta Pasi, and 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade Commander Brigadier General Ronald L Bailey.

A US KC-130 aircraft arrived at Zia International Airport yesterday to begin delivering more water purifying systems to the affected areas. In the coming days, the US plans to assist in the airlifting of 160 tons of goods form existing Bangladesh supplies, concerned officials said.
The USS Kearsarge continues to reach more areas with much needed fresh water. Troops from the Kearsarge used helicopters to begin airlifting 5,000 refillable 5.5 gallon (21 liters) water containers to various locations, including Dublar Char, Bagerhat and Barguna districts.

In addition, a US Army medical team which has been in country since early November providing medical support as part of a separate programme, has been deployed to the Patukhali area along with medics of the Kearsarge, to provide additional medical support to over-stretched Bangladeshi resources there.

In the coming days this medical team plans to visit four different locations in the affected area to provide medical assistance.

The USS Kearsarge, currently off the coast of Bangladesh, is playing a primary role in supporting the US assistance mission.

The USNS Concord is in the vicinity of Bangladesh and has re-supplied the Kearsarge, while the USS Essex, originally intended to support the Kearsarge, will, instead, continue with its scheduled plans, says a press release of US Embassy here.

The Pakistan army medical team set up a temporary hospital in Bhandaria Upzila under Jhalakathi district. They will provide medical services to 12 thousand cyclone affected people in the locality, reports our Barisal Correspondent.

Meanwhile the death toll from the cyclone ‘Sidr’ rose to 3,243 till 9am Monday which was 3,061 till 4:30pm Sunday, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Disaster Management.
The ministry officials said, over 68.51 lakh people in 30 districts were affected by the nature’s fury that also left 34,508 people injured and 1,180 others missing.

It said 12 districts were hit worst by the terrible storm that left a trail of destruction, especially to standing crops, in the areas.

The damages include crops on 4,61,819 acres (completely) and 13,27,399 acres (partially), 3,65,670 houses (completely) and 8,42,657 others (partially), 1,355 educational institutions (completely) and 7,893 others (partially), 648 kms roads (completely) and 88,580 kms roads (partially), 1,654 bridges and culverts, 615 kms dams and 33,69,366 trees and plants.

ISPR in a press release said, Bangladesh Navy (BN) has geared up its ongoing relief operations for cyclone battered people at different parts of the southern districts of Bhola and Barguna.
Presently a total of 13 Bangladesh Navy ships are engaged in carrying and distributing relief materials among the victims at five upazilas in Barguna district.

Chittagong area commander and naval contingents deployed at cyclone hit areas in Bhola distributed cash and other relief materials among people on Sunday.

Similarly the members of naval contingents also distributed relief materials among 674 families in Barguna district and members of contingent are increased for supplying relief materials at remote areas of five upazilas in the district.

Members of the Bangladesh Air Force continued their relief operations at different parts of southern districts of the country.

Pakistani naval ships will be kept open for visitors on November 29 from 1500 hrs to 1630 hrs at New Mooring Container Terminal 3 and 4. Chittagong port gate CCT-1 will be used for the visitors, says the ISPR press release.

UNB adds: Four teams of US Marines started work at Southkhali and Dublarchar of Bagerhat, Bamna of Barguna and Kalapara, Rangabali and Dashmina of Patuakhali district.
They have already arranged purification and supply of drinking water with relief items and medical aid and soon will open a 125-bed hospital in Mirzaganj upazila headquarters for treatment of diarrhoea before it can spread as an epidemic.
Besides, a 104-member-strong team of Pakistan Army medical corps with ambulances, medicines and other medical equipment are working in Mathbaria, Zianagar and Patharghata upazilas and adjacent areas.

A 30-bed field hospital of the Pakistan Army has been set up with operation theatre in Bhandaria upazila town of Pirojpur district to serve the storm-stricken people of the region, the central relief and rehabilitation coordinator told his audience at the relief headquarters (Barisal).
In the Sidr-affected areas 424 medical teams are working and relief and rehabilitation works, including repair and construction of houses and communications, also going on with the help of Bangladesh Armed forces.

On the other hand, two more helicopters, carrying 2,500 gallons of drinking water, left Barisal Airport for the affected areas on Monday. Four planes of Bangladesh Armed Forces offloaded 50 tons of medicines, blankets and other relief supplies for the Sidr-distressed people the same day.
The distressed fishermen and farmers would be provided with easy-term bank loans and other help for their rehabilitation, the Adviser Matin informed.

“Any indiscipline, mismanagement, corruption, misappropriation of money and black marketing in relief works and items, hike and manipulation of price and hoarding of essential commodities would be tackled hardly,” he said on a note of caution.

After the briefing, the Adviser left Barisal Airport by a helicopter to visit the storm-ravaged areas of Barguna, one of the coastal districts worst hit by the November 15 cyclone that took a toll of several thousand people dead and devastated the country’s southwestern coastal localities.
Major General Rafiqul Islam, general commanding officer of 55 division of the army, was present during the visit.

Bangladesh, Monday, November 26, 2007

US marine troops inspecting the Barisal Airport where eight planes from home and abroad are landing every day. Massive relief operations were launched for thousands of people in cyclone-affected districts yesterday from the Relief and Rehabilitation Coordination Headquarters set up at Barisal Airport.

The Bangladesh Army, in cooperation with the United States Marine Corps launched a massive humanitarian mission for hundreds of thousands of cyclone survivors in southern districts by helicopters from a makeshift airbase in the river port of Barisal, officials said yesterday.

The US Marines arrived over the weekend aboard the US warship USS Kearsarge to help Bangladesh deal with the aftermath of the super- cyclone SIDR, which pulverized the fragile coastline on November 16.

Officials said that the new coordination center would ensure quick and better distribution of relief materials and logistic support to the thousands of cyclone victims.

“We’re giving highest priority to the proper distribution of relief materials among the cyclone-affected people in a coordinated manner from Barisal,” a senior government relief official told The New Nation yesterday.

Local disaster management officials said Barisal was chosen as the location for an airbase for the Marines in order to coordinate the delivery of food, bottled water and medicines to the stricken cyclone survivors.

Bangladesh Air Force is now flying relief goods with 13 helicopters and planes in the cyclone-hit areas, officials said.

Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed has said the Bangladesh Army would start distribution of food in the remote areas of the cyclone affected districts from today (Monday) in cooperation with the US Marines.

While receiving donations for the cyclone victims yesterday, he said as many as 96 makeshift helipads have already been constructed at the union level to ensure reaching the relief materials to the remote areas.

Different individuals and organisations yesterday donated Tk 6.10 crore to the Bangladesh Army’s Relief Fund for the distressed people in the cyclone-affected areas.

Receiving the donations, the Army Chief conveyed his heartfelt thanks to them for standing beside the distressed humanity at this crucial period.

Moeen said right now the main objective of the Bangladesh Army is to send food to the remote areas. Members of the Bangladesh Army is working relentlessly in this regard.

The army chief also called for coordination in relief operations, as many survivors remained without adequate aid nine days after the cyclone ravaged 12 southern districts.

“Please coordinate with us, so that we can dispatch your relief goods to the survivors who need it most,” General Moeen told them..

Moeen said US Navy ships had arrived to conduct relief operations for survivors in coordination with the Bangladesh government.

The amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge and another ship, the USS Essex are now in Bangladeshi waters to assist the authorities.

Each ship carries about 20 helicopters, which will help in delivering water, food and medical supplies to remote areas in the south and southwestern regions, officials said.

A pair of Marine helicopters carried 750 gallons (3,410 litres) of bottled waters yesterday from the USS Kearsarge to the southern coastal city of Barisal.

Government relief officials said the two ships would start full-fledged relief operations from today (Monday).

“If we can utilise the huge capabilities of the U.S. ships, we can successfully conduct a useful relief operation for the survivors,” Moeen said.

On the other hand, the coordination committee held a meeting at the center at Barisal Airport yesterday morning, which was attended, among others, by the Army, Navy and Air Force officials.

After the meeting, Maj Gen Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, General Commanding Officer of Jessore Cantonment and Regional Coordinator of Relief Operations, told reporters that the property losses caused by cyclone is estimated at US$ 2.3 billion, or Tk 16,100 crore. The amount of assistance received so far is Tk 3,290 crore.

He said a mobile medical team of the US Army would start working in the cyclone ravaged areas from today.

“The relief operations have gathered pace with the arrival of more aid from donor countries, agencies and private charities. We’ve also got increased logistics support,” said Navy commander Bashir Ahmed, who is coordinating help to the worst-hit Barguna district. Ahmed said he believed virtually all survivors had now received at least two deliveries of aid.

The needs, however, remained huge and it would take weeks to ensure adequate supplies to all victims, he added.

US marines from the USS Kearsarge were carrying out airlifts of water and other supplies for a second day, a US embassy official said.

In the badly-hit Patharghata town, local administrator Salim Khan told reporters supplies were finally reaching victims. “The emergency crisis is overcome,” he said, adding, however, that more materials would be needed later.

Aid workers said getting fresh water to victims remained a priority as the prospect of outbreaks of water-borne diseases looms.

Many of those in coastal districts have seen their traditional sources of drinking water contaminated by saline water which cannot be treated by water purification tablets.

“Some 1,734 people are missing,” said Major Nawrose, who uses one name, of the armed forces control room, adding that many of those unaccounted for were likely to have been swept away by the tidal surge.

Others were fishermen who “went out to sea before the cyclone and did not return, although we cannot say they are all dead yet,” Nawrose added.

In Patharghata, popularly known as the fishing capital of Bangladesh, the industry directly supports 200,000 people.

Coastguards and the government’s weather department had warned boats to stay in port as the cyclone approached. But many villagers told reporters that they did not take the warning seriously because of frequent previous alerts.

One person died and 10 more were seriously injured on Saturday when a bridge in village Kalapara in Patharghata of Patuakhali district collapsed under the weight of 1,000 people queueing for relief.

The United Nations estimates that the cyclone has affected 6.7 million people in 30 of the country’s 64 districts, causing severe economic losses.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN said 92,000 hectares of crops had been ruined, 500,000 hectares partly damaged and around 350,000 livestock lost.

“Serious damage has also been observed in the fisheries and shrimp aquaculture sectors,” a statement said.

About 4 million people in 12 districts in south-western Bangladesh were hit by the cyclone that razed villages, toppled trees and damaged road and rail lines. Most of the affected are poor fishermen, rice growers and shrimp farmers.

An estimated 1 million people have to be sheltered against the upcoming biting winter while another 2.6 million living in abject poverty need food provisions.

Meanwhile, more than two million cyclone survivors in Bangladesh’s southwest coastal areas are in dire need of “immediate, life-saving” food assistance, the United Nations said in a rapid assessment report.

The report noted that immediate drinking water supplies are required for an estimated 1.2 million people, after the cyclone contaminated water wells in the worst affected areas.

The UN assessment also identified the rapid need to expand the distribution of nutritionally balanced rations of rice, pulses, oil and other foodstuffs. “Food and water are the highest priority needs to help the victims save their lives,” the report said.

Materials such as tents, tarpaulins and corrugated iron sheets, wood, poles and tools are high priority items in the worst affected districts, where houses located near shorelines were the most damaged. “This is particularly urgent since temperatures are dropping with the advent of winter. Blankets and warm clothing are also important in this regard,” the report added.

The quick repair of medical facilities and health clinics, the restoration of electricity and assistance in re-establishing sanitation facilities are also critical, according to the assessment report.

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NEW DELHI (AFP) — Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen remained in hiding in India on Saturday, fearing attacks from radical Muslims who see her work as blasphemous, officials said.

The author was driven to the Indian capital New Delhi late on Friday under police escort and housed under tight security at an official residence, Indian media said.

The Press Trust of India said Nasreen was at Rajasthan House, a state government guest house, but authorities declined to confirm her location.

Federal cabinet ministers attended a meeting late on Friday to review security for the 45-year-old author, who has said her fugitive existence had pushed her to the brink of emotional breakdown.

“Keeping her (Taslima) safe is the most important task at hand in this case,” said foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The cabinet “discussed issues related to security for Nasreen’s stay in India in view of the threats issued by some fundamentalist Muslim organisations,” a senior official, who asked to remain unnamed, told AFP.

Riots by thousands of Muslims in Kolkata calling for the writer’s expulsion from the country led to Nasreen being rushed out the eastern city late on Thursday.

The Times of India said Kolkata police had informed Nasreen she was in imminent danger of an attack by Muslim extremists and moved her from the capital of the Marxist-ruled West Bengal state.

Police in Kolkata put her on a flight to Jaipur in the western state of Rajasthan but the local government there told her to leave at dawn on Friday because of what it said were “security reasons.”

The doctor-turned-author who was raised in a conservative Muslim family but now describes herself as a “secular humanist” said on Friday the events had put a huge strain her.

“I am mentally distressed. I am not well at all,” Nasreen told the Press Trust of India. “I am not in a position to talk. I am shattered.”

“I have no place to go. India is my home, and I would like to keep living in this country till I die,” she said.

Nasreen fled her Muslim-majority homeland of Bangladesh in 1994 after huge street protests by demonstrators who decried her writings blasphemous and demanded her “execution.”

Kolkata was calm on Saturday after soldiers were called out earlier in the week to control Muslim rioters who demanded Nasreen’s expulsion from India for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammad.

Officials denied media reports which said New Delhi had extended her Indian visa, due to expire on February 17, 2008.

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that the government grant her permanent residence, saying she should be allowed the same freedom of speech enjoyed by those who make anti-Hindu remarks.

Writers and film producers also pressed the government to guarantee her refuge.

West Bengal has a large Muslim population and shares the Bengali language and much of the culture of Bangladesh.

“I am a Bengali in mind… I want to stay here,” Nasreen told AFP in September.

Senior members of West Bengal’s Marxist-ruling coalition have accused the government of “surrender” to fundamentalist forces in letting Nasreen be “hounded out” of the state.

Extremist Muslims accuse her of blasphemy over her 1994 novel “Lajja” or “Shame” and have called for her execution for that and other works.

Nasreen took up residence in Kolkata in 2004 after spending years in Europe and the United States. Her time in India has been fraught with controversy.

In March, a Muslim group in India’s Uttar Pradesh state offered a bounty for the beheading of what it called that “notorious woman” who “has put Muslims to shame.”

Bangladesh, Saturday, November 24, 2007

US Pacific Commander Admiral Timothy J Keating paid a courtesy call on Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed at Army Headquarters, Dhaka Cantonment on Friday. Photo : ISPR Army chief General Moeen U Ahmed yesterday apparently dismissed some political parties’ plea for lifting the state of emergency to make way for their effective participation in on-going relief works.

“Tell me, has it any link with politics?” he told reporters after a meeting with US Pacific Commander Admiral Timothy J. Keating at the Army headquarters.

PSO Lt Gen Masud Uddin Chowdhury, CGS Maj Gen Sina Ibne Jamali and US Charge d’ Affaires Geeta Pasi were present at the meeting.

Gen Moeen said people of all walks of life came forward to serve distressed humanity after the November 15 cyclone saying, “We will be able to reach food to each union and each home.”

He suggested establishment of shelters for cattle alongside more cyclone centres as he said cyclone ‘Sidr’ took the toll of more than five lakh cattlehead as officially stated.
He deplored that no new cyclone centre was set up after 1991 although population has increased manifold since then.

Welcoming the US Navy ships that carry helicopters and medical facilities to aid relief operation, the General said US helicopters will airlift food from Dhaka and Chittagong and drop those to Barisal from where food will be reached to the affected areas.

“It will be a great help… There will be no dearth of food in the affected areas,” he said, recalling that the Operation Sea Angel had contributed a lot to relief and rehabilitation works after 1991 cyclone.

He said a Joint Forces Headquarters has been set up in Barisal to coordinate relief operations between government, NGOs and other social organisations.

The Army chief said that most urgent needs at the moment are food, pure water, clothes and powdered milk. He said US provided 10 water treatment plants and more will be coming. Besides, army water treatment plants were also pressed into operation.
“Inshallah, we will overcome the crisis soon with cooperation from all,” he told reporters.

Later, talking to reporters at Zia International Airport, Admiral Keating expressed sympathy for those who were killed and whose lives have been shattered by the cyclone.
He said they arrived here with the permission of the Bangladesh government to provide assistance for the cyclone victims. They will carry food, provide medical treatment for the injured and supply pure water.

Asked about sensitivity of the US Navy ships’ presence, Keating said “I don’t think there should be sensitivity. We’ve remarkable capacity and when requested, we’re anxious to provide that assistance. We don’ t go where we are not wanted.”
Asked how long the US ships will stay in Bangladesh, the Admiral said, “As long as it needs.”

Earlier, the US Admiral was briefed at the Armed Forces Division on deaths and destruction caused by ‘Sidr’ in 15 south and southwestern coastal districts.
The US ship was anchored at 30 kms off the Chittagong port.
The USS Essex and USS Kearsarge carry helicopters, hovercraft and equipped with hospital facilities. The first ship was scheduled to arrive here today and the second on November 27.

US Charge d’ Affaires Geeta Pasi said the United States is present in Bangladesh since her independence in 1971 and is engaged in improving livelihood in this country through various projects funded by USAID.

“We are expected to respond to the immediate needs. This is our strong partnership with Bangladesh,” she said.

This is going to be the second US Navy relief operation after 1991 when Joint Task Force Sea Angel arrived here after Cyclone Marian pounded on the country’s southeastern Chittagong region on April 29, 1991.

Cyclone Marian coupled with 8-feet tidal surge devastated Chittagong region, killing nearly 140,000 people and leaving over 5 million people homeless.

Operation Sea Angel began operation on 10 May and involved over 7,000 US soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen. It continued operation till June 13, 1991.

The US Navy was prepared yesterday to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis stricken by Cyclone Sidr.

The arrival of the USS Kearsage off the Bangladesh coast came as authorities and aid workers warned that the South Asian country faces acute food shortages after the devastating storm ravaged crops and destroyed infrastructure across a large swath of the country.

“We are here to help the people in their time of need,” Adm. Timothy Keating, the top US military commander in the Pacific Ocean, told reporters.

The first ship arrived on Thursday and Keating said a second ship, the USS Essex, would arrive in the coming days.

The ships are each carrying about 20 helicopters, which will help delivering water, food and medical supplies to survivors in remote areas, US officials said.

“We are excited to be able to respond to the immediate needs of the survivors,” said Geeta Pasi.

The government has pledged to feed more than two million people left destitute by the storm, which killed more than 3,000.

But since the Nov 15 storm hit coastal belt of Bangladesh, officials and relief agencies have struggled to get desperately needed rice, drinking water and tents to remote villages cut off when rain and winds washed out roads.

The government has promised to distribute 33 pounds of rice per month to each of the estimated 2.5 million people in need, many of them in crowded relief camps, starting Dec 1, said Tapan Chowdhoury, Adviser on food and disaster management. The programme will last at least four months, he said.

Kelly Stevenson, the Bangladesh director of Save the Children, said the charity estimates that 50 to 90 per cent of the region’s rice crop has been destroyed, leaving up to 3 million people at risk of food shortages over the next six months.

But in the short term, aid workers were struggling to get supplies to the devastated coastal region, where shortages have led to fistfights among survivors.

“Thousands of families are facing the real possibility of a second wave of death that can result from lack of clean water, food, shelter and medical supplies,” said Stevenson.
Meanwhile, several aid groups continued work to help orphans or children who were traumatised by the cyclone experience.

“Some saw their relatives killed by trees that fell on their homes, or they saw dead bodies - something many of them had never seen before,” Raphael Palma of World Vision Bangladesh said. “They are still somehow traumatised and need support.”

UNICEF has set up special shelters for children affected by the storm, providing medical and psychological support as well as recreational activities, said agency spokeswoman Zafrin Chowdhury.

UNICEF was also working with local groups to place children orphaned during the storm with surviving relatives, Chowdhury said.

With many drinking water wells destroyed by the cyclone, the need for clean water was becoming critical to ward off deadly waterborne diseases such as cholera and severe diarrhoea.

A week after the storm, bodies were also still washing ashore.

The official death toll stood at 3,199, said Lt. Col. Main Ullah Chowdhury, spokesman for the army. The Disaster Management Ministry said 1,724 people were missing and 28,188 people had been injured. It said the cyclone destroyed 458,804 houses and partially damaged another 665,529.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — The U.S. Navy prepared Friday to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis stricken by Cyclone Sidr, a top U.S. military commander said.

The arrival of the USS Kearsarge off the Bangladesh coast came as authorities and aid workers warned that the South Asian country faces acute food shortages after the devastating storm ravaged crops and destroyed infrastructure across a large swath of the country.

“We are here to help the people in their time of need,” Adm. Timothy Keating, the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific Ocean, told reporters.

The first ship arrived Thursday and Keating said a second ship, the USS Essex, would arrive in the coming days.

About 300 members from a small Islamic group, Hizbut Tahrir, briefly demonstrated in Dhaka against the arrival of the ships, saying they were a threat to Bangladesh’s security.

“Go back! We don’t want the warships,” shouted the protesters at the city’s largest state-run mosque after Friday prayers. A contingent of riot police stopped them from pouring into the streets.

The U.S. ships are each carrying about 20 helicopters, which will help in delivering water, food and medical supplies to survivors in remote areas, U.S. officials said.

Officers from the Kearsarge spent most of Friday meeting with Bangladeshi military commanders to coordinate the operation, which will include a survey of the ravaged zone to pinpoint the neediest areas, U.S. officials said.

The delivery of relief supplies is expected to start Saturday, said Geeta Pasi, the top U.S. diplomat in Dhaka.

“We are excited to be able to respond to the immediate needs of the survivors,” said Pasi.

U.S. medical teams have been distributing water purification tablets in the stricken zones to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases, Pasi added.

With many drinking water wells destroyed by the cyclone, the need for clean water was becoming critical to ward off cholera and severe diarrhea.

The government has pledged to feed more than two million people left destitute by the storm, which killed more than 3,000.

But since the Nov. 15 storm hit southwestern Bangladesh, officials and relief agencies have struggled to get desperately needed rice, drinking water and tents to remote villages cut off when rain and winds washed out roads.

The government has promised to distribute 33 pounds of rice per month to each of the estimated 2.5 million people in need, many of them in crowded relief camps, starting Dec. 1, said Tapan Chowdhoury, the government’s adviser on food and disaster management. The program will last at least four months, he said.

Kelly Stevenson, the Bangladesh director of Save the Children, said the charity estimates that 50 to 90 percent of the region’s rice crop has been destroyed, leaving up to 3 million people at risk of food shortages over the next six months.

Bangladesh has received pledges of international aid of $450 million, including $250 million from the World Bank, Food and Disaster Management secretary Mohammad Ayub Mia said Thursday after a meeting with donors.

But in the short term, aid workers were struggling to get supplies to the devastated coastal region, where shortages have led to fistfights among survivors.

“Thousands of families are facing the real possibility of a second wave of death that can result from lack of clean water, food, shelter and medical supplies,” said Stevenson.

The official death toll stood at 3,199, said Lt. Col. Main Ullah Chowdhury, spokesman for the army. The Disaster Management Ministry said 1,724 people were missing and 28,188 people had been injured. It said the cyclone destroyed 458,804 houses and partially damaged another 665,529.

Associated Press writers Parveen Ahmed in Dhaka and Tofayel Ahmed in Cox’s Bazar contributed to this report.

The controversial Bangladeshi writer, Taslima Nasreem, has been moved from the eastern Indian city of Kolkata after protests by Muslim militants turned to riots, and baton-wielding troops were deployed on the streets.

Dozens of people were injured in the violence, and more than a hundred arrested, with protesters calling for Taslima Nasreen to be expelled from India altogether, after accusing her of offending Muslim sentiments.

It’s been alleged she called for the Qur’an to be changed to give women greater rights, although Taslima Nasreen has denied making the comments.

Veena Nair, president of Indian NGO Women’s Political Watch, has told Radio Australia’s Connect Asia program, says Taslima Nasreen has not backed away from things she has said in the past.

“Looking at her track record, she’s not drawn to saying things which she backtracks on,” she said.

“And secondly, I think Islam itself does offer a lot of good positions for women, but it’s the interpretation by the vested sections that makes Muslim women’s positions weak.”

Political pressure

Taslima Nasreen rose to prominence in 1993, after her first book, Shame, detailing violence against women in Bangladesh, prompted Islamic fundamentalists to issue a fatwa against her.

She was forced to leave Bangladesh and lived in Sweden before settling in India’s West Bengal state on a visitor’s visa which has been renewed every six months.

Veena Nair says the Indian government should not bow to growing pressure to not renew Taslima Nasreen’s visa or move her to another state.

Mohammed Rahman, a bioengineering graduate student, is spearheading an international project to evaluate a screening device for oral cancer that he helped design and submitted for patent while at Rice.

The device, called the portable screening system (PS2), is an inexpensive, battery-operated optical instrument that uses principles of fluorescence imaging to distinguish between normal and precancerous tissue.

The PS2 uses light-emitting diodes and a miniature camera to generate and detect the autofluorescence signals of biomarkers found in relatively high amounts in oral cavity tissue. The PS2 can help dentists and surgeons in tissue biopsy and in tumor detection.

Rahman’s nine-month research internship, which is funded by a 2007-2008 Whitaker International Fellows Grant, is part of a collaborative effort among Rice’s Department of Bioengineering, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India.

“This is a very exciting opportunity in my Ph.D. pursuit,” wrote Rahman in an e-mail from Mumbai. “Not only did I design a biomedical instrument in the Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Laboratory, but I also have the chance to test it in a real clinical setting where oral cancer is prevalent.”

Rahman, a U.S. citizen born in Bangladesh, chose to conduct the study in India because Tata Memorial Hospital is the largest cancer institution in south Asia, and India and its neighboring countries have the highest incidence rates for many acute and chronic diseases, including oral cancer.

“The fellowship is ideal for my future goals to conduct research, promote technology transfer and bridge the health disparity that exists in the region,” said Rahman.

Rahman works under the supervision of Rebecca Richards-Kortum, the Stanley C. Moore Professor, chair of the Bioengineering Department and professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Ann Gillenwater, associate professor and associate surgeon of head and neck surgery at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Fund raising event for Cyclone victims in Bangladesh

Date:
Saturday, 01 December 2007

Time:
6:00PM – 10:00PM

Venue:
Somerville High School
81 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02143
Google Map

For more information:
Salam Syed (857) 998-1183

In address to nation Dr Fakhruddin terms cyclone a national catastrophe

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said the nation is facing a catastrophe caused by the deadly cyclone SIDR and made a clarion call to all irrespective of party and opinion to stand beside the distressed people with whatever they could spare.
“There is no alternative to concerted and united efforts to effectively combat this national catastrophe,” he said in an address to the nation over radio and television in the evening, a day after witnessing the scenes of devastation along the country’s southern coast.
Fakhruddin, who cancelled his visit to Uganda to attend the Commonwealth Summit, scheduled for November 23-25, in view of the exigencies at home, expressed the hope that all irrespective of party affiliation would come forward in helping out the helpless and distressed humanity.
The head of caretaker government urged the business community to be sensitive and prove their social accountability in controlling the price hike of essential commodities.
He said the government is trying its best to deal with the post-cyclone situation with its own resources. But, given the resource constraints, the government will welcome any assistance from Bangladesh’s friendly countries, development partners and others.
Fakhruddin said the government has set up an effective mechanism to deliver the relief goods to the affected people and ensure their primary rehabilitation.
Referring to the cancellation of his visit to Uganda to attend the Commonwealth summit in Kampala, the Chief Adviser said that he does not think it wise to leave the country, even if for a brief period of time, in view of the enormity of the disaster.
“Let’s come to keep alive the indomitable and courageous people of Bangladesh devastated by cataclysm and rekindle their hope for new life,” he told the nation in an emotional address.
Expressing his gratitude to those who have expressed sympathy and extended their support so far for the distressed humanity, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed said the government has been facing the present situation through internal resources.
“But, we will welcome support from the friendly countries, development partners and others due to resource constraint,” he said adding that the government has already built up a strong management structure in conducting initial rehabilitation activities including distribution of relief materials to the distressed people.
“I have seen unimaginable destruction in the affected areas, visiting there more than once.”
“I have listened to the destitute,” the Chief Adviser said.
He said about 40,000 people had been affected by the cyclone.
“Several thousands of them are dead. The figure is rising gradually and the number of the injured is enormous,” the interim government head said.
“It is very difficult to count the missing.”
“The number of totally or partially destroyed houses is about nine lakh.”
“Although the severity of the cyclone was greater than the 1991 cyclone, the casualty figure was far less thanks to preparedness,” Fakhruddin said.
“But we should not be complacent. We have to find ways to limit damage and casualties from future natural disasters.”
The chief adviser said the armed forces launched rescue and relief operations in disaster zones and private organisations, aid agencies and other NGOs combined forces with them.
“We are grateful to all of them.”

By SIMON ROBINSON

In all, some 27 million people were affected by Cyclone Sidr, the category 4 storm that swept through Bangladesh last week, flattening houses, damaging buildings and roads, and destroying thousands of acres of crops. More than 2,000 people were killed, according to official numbers, and the toll could eventually reach 10,000. But even as Bangladesh begins a massive cleanup operation, many are thankful that it wasn’t much worse. As devastating as it was, Sidr has taken far fewer lives than 1991’s Cyclone Gorky, which killed at least 138,000 people, and 1970’s Bhola, which left as many as 500,000 people dead and is considered the deadliest cyclone, and one of the worst natural disasters, in human history.
Mainly, this is because Bangladesh has gotten a lot better at dealing with cyclones, which build in the Bay of Bengal and surge north to hit the country with dreadful regularity. Over the past decade especially, the country’s early warning and preparedness systems have improved considerably. Officials evacuated some 3.2 million people who lived along the coastline in the days before Sidr hit, and stockpiled relief supplies and rescue equipment. Soon after the storm passed, the Bangladeshi government quickly began distributing 4,000 metric tons of rice, along with thousands of tents and blankets, and deployed more than 700 medical teams to the worst-affected areas. Early warnings and preparations had a “significant mitigating effect in this emergency,” according to the United Nations Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “[The system] has worked much, much better than before,” says A. Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, of the country’s disaster preparations. “The death toll is going to be an order of magnitude less.”

Still, keeping future death tolls low is likely to get a lot harder. Scientists believe that global warming will make cyclones in the region bigger and more frequent. That’s bad news for Bangladesh, whose location and geography makes it not only particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change but also extremely hard to protect. Most of Bangladesh sits on the giant alluvial delta created by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, whose courses are constantly shifting, making it difficult to build up river banks to protect farmland. A World Bank project, backed by France, Japan and the U.S., would construct 8,000 km of dikes to control the rivers, but the $10 billion proposal has run into opposition from farmers whose land it would take. Massive Dutch-style dikes to hold back the sea — and future cyclone-induced waves — are probably even more unworkable. “The soil isn’t steady as such — it’s mud,” says Rahman, who is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and chair of the Climate Action Network South Asia. “You have these huge, rapidly changing geological dynamics here that make it a very hard place to protect.”

On a more human scale, however, there are some slivers of hope. Already people in some areas of Bangladesh have begun building houses on tall stilts to evade annual floodwaters. Non-governmental organizations such as U.K.-based Practical Action have also developed simple house designs — two-foot-high concrete plinths topped with inexpensive and easily replaced jute panel walls — that help prevent some homes from being washed away. CARE, the U.S.-based NGO, has helped people living along the coast rediscover forgotten farming techniques such as baira cultivation, or floating gardens, an age-old agricultural system well suited to areas that are flooded for long periods of time. Farmers might also benefit from salt-tolerant varieties of rice or fast-growing crops that can be harvested before the devastating monsoons arrive. It will help, too, if the Bangladeshi government speeds up its implementation of plans created after earlier ruinous floods, including improving drainage in cities, better sanitation management and fixing up the worst slums.

Regardless of these preparations, much of Bangladesh will be transformed if current global warming trends continue. As the sea level rises, vast swaths of coastal land will disappear in coming decades — as much as 18% of Bangladesh’s current landmass, according to the World Bank. And as the rivers swell with water from melting Himalayan glaciers, land in the center of the country will also disappear. Those effects, combined with more frequent and stronger cyclones, could spark an exodus of climate refugees fleeing for the cities and for other countries.

That’s a problem, because Bangladesh is already one of the most densely populated countries on the globe — just under half the population of the U.S. crammed into an area the size of the state of Iowa. Neighboring India is already so worried about the growing number of Bangladeshi migrants that it is building a huge fence on the two nations’ shared border. Rahman, however, sees a silver lining: Bangladesh’s fleeing multitudes can help feed the West’s need for cheap labor as its own population ages. “The globalization of the climate process will force the globalization of the demographic process,” he says. And if the rich world is not ready to let in millions of Bangladeshis looking for somewhere dry to live? “The rich world caused this problem so they’re going to have to pay for it,” says Rahman. “I’ve started telling my colleagues from Europe and Canada that we might have to introduce a system that says if you produce 10,000 tons of carbon you have to take a Bangladeshi family. They don’t like hearing that.” They may have to get used to it.

Poular band Dolchhut’s singer and journalist Sanjib Chowdhury died at Apollo Hospital on November 19. On the following day, a special programme was held at TSC of University of Dhaka in his memory. Renowned cultural personalities like Mamunur Rashid, Tapan Chowdhury, Fakir Alamgir, Subir Nandi, Andrew Kishor, Fahmida Nabi, Bappa Majumder, Biplob and others were present at the programme. Different students’ organisations from Dhaka University paid respect to Sanjib with flowers.

Sanjib became ill suddenly on Thursday last at his Mirpur residence. He was in coma care till his death at the hospital. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage.

Sanjib’s body was donated to Dhaka Medical College.

Along with Bappa Mazumder, Shanjib formed Dolchhut in November 1996. In 1997, Dolchhut released their first album, titled Ah! Dalchhut’s second album, ‘Hridoypur’ soon became a hit. He rendered several popular songs of this album titled Ami tomakei bole dibo, Gari cholena, Bioscope. His rendition of Tomar Bhanj Kholo in the film Bachelor became enormously popular.

Moreover, Shanjib was a journalist. He was the feature writer of many well-esteemed Bangla dailies like Ajker Kagoj, Bhorer Kagoj and others.

The government has so far received assurance of foreign assistance of over $142 million for the cyclone-affected people.

Saudi Arabia alone is providing $100 million while Japan, United Nations, Britain, Unicef, World Food Programme (WFP), the United States, India, China, Australia, and Switzerland have assured of the rest.

Food and Disaster Management Adviser Tapan Chowdhury yesterday told reporters that Japanese Embassy will officially handover the first consignment of relief to Bangladesh officials today.

An aircraft carrying 466 boxes of Japanese relief aid including tents, blanket and tarpaulin is scheduled to land at the Zia International Airport at 8:30am today.

A US under secretary will arrive in Dhaka at 8:00am today and is expected to disclose the US government’s relief assistance, Tapan said, adding that relief materials from the US will also come in a flight.

“The Saudi government has announced today a grant of $100 million in relief assistance for Bangladesh’s cyclone victims,” he said at a press briefing at the secretariat yesterday.

The Japanese government is providing relief grant worth $14 million, the UN $7 million, WFP $6 million, Britain $5 million, the Unicef $1.5 million, China$1million, India

$1million and Australia $160,000. The US has already assured of relief worth $2.1 million.

S ARABIA
The Saudi government has announced a grant of $ 100 million in relief assistance for the cyclone victims.

The government has also decided to send 300 tons of food and relief materials to Bangladesh by the middle of the next week.

Saudi Ambassador Abdullah AL Obaid Al Namla informed Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury of the grant and relief assistance announced by King Abdullah.

The Saudi envoy informed the foreign Advisor that the Saudi King had expressed his willingness to build an “air-bridge” of relief with Bangladesh.

JAPAN
Japan is providing emergency assistance of Tk 21,350,000 for Bangladesh’s cyclone victims.

The emergency relief goods include 100 tents (for 6 people), 1000 blankets (regular), 100 blankets (heavy), 300 sleeping pads, 200 plastic sheets, 10 portable water tanks (2000 liter), 30 water purifiers, 300 portable water tanks and 30 power generators (220V).

INDIA
The government of India has decided to respond immediately with a comprehensive relief package of $1million.

The Indian government has also acceded to the request of the Bangladesh government for waiving the ban on the export of rice to enable Bangladesh to procure 50,000 tonnes of rice from India immediately.

Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to the Foreign Adviser

Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhurty yesterday evening and conveyed India’s readiness To send relief supplies.

CHINA
The Chinese government has decided to donate $ 1 million of emergency assistance for relief and rehabilitation activities in the cyclone0hit areas of Bangladesh

The Red Cross Society of China will also donate $ 50,000 to Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

SWISS GOVT
The government of Switzerland has provided 200,000 Swiss Francs ($160,000) in grant for relief materials for the cyclone-hit people of Bangladesh as an emergency response.

The relief materials wILLbe distributed through Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) and Swiss Red Cross (SRC) in 5 districts Bagerhat, Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Jhalakathi and Madaripur.

Around 7,800 families in the five districts will receive food, temporary shelter materials, kitchen sets and clothes. The relief operation is expected to start on Thursday.

More world leaders, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, German President Horst Kohler, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, and Italian President Dr Giorgio Napolitano have expressed deep shock at the loss of life and property by cyclone Sidr.

Meanwhile, relief materials worth Tk 12.5 crore have been allocated from the chief adviser’s fund and Tk 1.5 crore from the food and disaster management ministry. Besides, Tk 36 crore has been allocated for the rehabilitation of the cyclone-affected people.

About 7,500 tonnes of rice have already been sent for distribution in the cyclone-hit localities. Besides, 5,110 tents, 17,262 blankets, 13,000 bundles of corrugated iron, 450 tonnes of dates and 1,200 tonnes of chickpeas have been distributed among the people in those areas.

The Cyclone Sidr apparently held the real degree of its destruction in store for the nation until yesterday, four days into the catastrophe, with the government gradually raising the death toll to 2,300 and Red Crescent fearing causalities as high as 10,000.

“We have already identified 2,750 bodies. Based on our experience in the past and reports from the scene, I would suggest the death toll may be as high as 10,000,” said Prof M Abdur Rob, chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, told the press in city yesterday.

The government rescuers could recover 515 more bodies in 24 hours from 1:30am Sunday, with Barguna overtaking Bagerhat on top of the causalities list with 717 people.

Shell-shocked survivors and rescuers yesterday picked through the cyclone ruins in the worst-hit southern districts as thousands of victims awaited relief amid their wrecked homes, crops, livestock and fields. They sobbed in agony, suffered in hunger, thirst and diarrhoea. They buried dear ones and searched in vain for the answer why fate conspired against them.

Reacting to the Red Crescent concern, which deployed around 42,000 volunteers in the coastal areas, Mohammad Aiyub Miah, acting secretary to the food and disaster management ministry said, “It is hard to guess what could be the possible number of causalities. But we can assure that we will instantly update all on the death toll, whatever grave it turned out to be.”

The government expects to prepare an estimate of damage by the end of this week, as the extent of destruction was too severe. “We have been taken aback with the catastrophe in some remote, inaccessible areas. It will take time for us to get an idea of the actual loss there,” Aiyub Miah told The Daily Star last night.

The government hoped to place a detailed report on causalities and financial loss at the meeting with donors, who already pledged around $25 million in aid, next week.

Meanwhile, people of Barguna, where death toll doubled overnight, found no end to their miseries. Staying out under the open sky, thousands of survivors are now begging for a glass of water, forgetting about the inadequate relief and shelters.

“We used to rely on tubewells and ponds for drinking water. All the 16 tubewells in my union parishad went out of order and ponds became reservoirs of salty waters after the tidal surge,” said Sultan Mahmud, chairman of a Noltona union parishad over phone last evening.

Reports on scarcity of relief also reported from different parts of the storm-hit districts. About 30,000 people were affected out of 36,000 residents at Sultan’s union. “We received so far from the government relief of 10 metric tone rice and Tk 10,000 which could be distributed among 2,500 people,” he said.

The disaster management control room updated its rough estimate of losses caused by Sidr that will be a severe blow to the economy, which is already suffering huge losses from back-to-back floods in the middle of this year. The cyclone left its mark of devastation on 133 upazilas, 962 unions, affecting 31.44 lakh population of about 8.87 lakh families. The storm also killed 2.42 lakh livestock and completely destroyed crops on 23,122-acre land including six lakh metric tons of Aman. According to the estimate, 2.73 lakhs houses were totally flattened. Meanwhile, the fierce cyclone also totally damaged 58km roads and partially 1363km.

The shrimp farms at the badly-hit Morolgonj and Sharankhola upazilas in Bagherhat were extensively damaged, with the financial loss should be no less than Tk 500cr.

According to the latest government toll, the cyclone killed 717 in Barguna, 669 in Bagerhat, 330 in Patuakhali, 285 in Pirojpur, 85 in Barisal, 38 in Madaripur, 34 in Jhalakathi, 31 in Bhola, 29 in Gopalganj, 17 in Shariatpur, 16 in Satkhira, 15 in Khulna, 11 in Faridpur, four each in Dhaka, Chandpur, and Munshiganj, and two each in Laxmipur, Moulvibazar and Narayanganj, one each in Jessore, Chittagong, Rajbari, Narsingdi, and Narail.

Meanwhile, echoing concern of Red Crescent, different non-government organisations also urged the international community to stand by disaster-hit Bangladeshis. “These people are very poor and have lost everything. Their need will be very high, and we don’t believe the Bangladesh government can help all of them,” said a top man in international relief agency.

The international community also hailed government’s disaster preparedness, which greatly helped reduced causalities as well as losses. However Juliet Parker of Christian Aid cautioned, “These preparedness saved lives but not livelihoods.”

Patharghata upazila was having a good year. The shrimp and hilsha harvest for its largely fishing community was unusually large this year. Located on the southern-most tip on the coastlines of Barguna, its two lakh strong population were wedged between the Bay of Bengal, and the rivers Baleshwar and Bishkhali.

When Cyclone Sidr made its way up Barguna on Thursday night, it erased all memories of Patharghata’s past fortunes, unleashing its fury to leave a macabre landscape in its wake.

The official death count for the upazila, until Saturday, was 307. But even a cursory examination on the ground, witness reports, and simply from the number of mass graves, the death toll is well over 3,000. Cut off from the rest of the country, the upazila was accessible only by air or a long-route by the sea. The approach road was blocked by fallen trees and power-lines, preventing any relief vehicle from entering within a 40-kilometre area.

The corpses were found wrapped in paddy sheaves on rice fields, emanating heavy stench of rotting flesh. Most of the bodies were found one or two kilometres from where their homes had been. Some bodies lay tangled on tree branches, some were lining the shore, some unidentified were just left to rot.

Sidr rose out of the southern-most village of Patharghata – Padma. First, it took out a five-kilometre stretch of homes that had been built on the slope of a long mud-baked embankment lining the border of the village. In its wake, a 20-feet tidal surge wiped out the entire community. The tide swept the houses and most of its inhabitants, carrying them two to three kilometres inland. Most of the corpses were found three, sometimes four villages away.

In one small pocket, where a 100-metre stretch of the embankment was damaged by a previous flood, the tidal surge wreaked its greatest havoc.

The tide broke through the embankment and channelled all of its awesome power through that 100-metre gap razing all of at least 50 homes in one clean sweep.

The power of the deadly tidal surge is evident by the vanishing of the big mosque building, made of bricks and concrete, which used to occupy a section of that small pocket.

“We were about to run to the shelter my mother, my wife, two nephews, and I when we saw the great big wave. I looked up and up and there was no end to it. It swept us up and I grabbed the first tree trunk that I could find,” said Delwar, one of the rare survivors from the ill-fated 50 homes. The rest of his family died. At least 135 corpses from that small pocket of Padma village were found till Saturday morning.

Similar ghastly stories were found in three other villages along the Baleshwar river, in Rohita, Tangra, and Gouharpur. With at least 400 corpses from Padma village alone, the death toll was rising and no one knew or dared to imagine what it was.

In Charduani and Kathaltali union similar stories were told and retold in almost an endless cycle.

The other side of Patharghata is lined by the Bishkhali river. Around 12 kilometres along the southern tip is Kakchira Maajher Char, a small sandbar island visible from the mainland with a population of around 4,000. Like so many other chars in the area, it had no cyclone shelter. There was no warning. On Saturday, it was almost impossible to walk even five metres without seeing a corpse. A mass grave was marked by a dirty white cloth tied to a lone stick. No one wanted to talk. The air was too heavy with the stench of dead bodies, made heavier with the spine-chilling shrieks and wails of its inhabitants.

A man shaking with rage said, “What have you come to see. There is nothing to see here.” Asked how many people died, he sank into a shell, scratching restlessly into the white sand he said, “No less than 80 percent.” No relief had reached the char yet.

Further south-west on the mainland in Patharghata, lies Haringhata, a heavily forested area wedged on the confluence of three rivers and the bay. It is accessible only through the sea and was home to around 2,500 to 5,000 shutki (dried fish) farmers who migrate there for a few months a year from Khulna and surrounding areas. It was the peak season. No one can access the area because a thick shroud of fallen trees has blocked all entrance points. Only the corpses lining the shore offer a grim glimpse of the devastation inside.

Two survivors made it out of the remote area by swimming along the coastline to Patharghata. One of them, bleeding from several wounds from a wild-boar attack, could not speak and was taken to a hospital. Another, a shutki farmer named Limon, described the gory details of what had been Haringhata’s hours of horror.

“We knew there would be trouble when we saw the black clouds. Then the storm came and then the tidal wave,” he said. “All were washed away,” Limon said with a vacant look that always seemed to be looking out to the horizon.

“No one can be alive in there. I saw hundreds of bodies tangled on tree branches, hanging by their feet or wrapped around the tree trunks…They were lucky. I saw so many who were being eaten by the boars,” Limon said.

Thousands of people are injured and thousands of families are homeless, cooking and sleeping under the open sky. Almost all of them had not eaten since Thursday night. Some made do with the core of banana trees.

The chief adviser and the army chief flew in to Patharghata municipality on Friday for brief visits. None of the relief had made its way to the worst affected areas. Medical help is a far cry.

One single, powerful symbol of hope came in the form of a woman, who stood by a wooden pillar on the slope of the embankment where her home used to be. Looking into the calm blue waters of the Bay of Bengal, she said, “This pillar is from my home. It won’t take long before it’s in my home again.”

By Anis Ahmed

DHAKA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Grieving survivors and rescuers picked through the rubble left in the wake of a super cyclone that battered Bangladesh as the death toll reached over 2,200 on Sunday and a government official declared the disaster “a national calamity".

Mohammad Abdur Rob, chairman of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, said the overall death toll from the cyclone could reach 10,000.

“Based on our experience in the past and reports from the scene I would guess the death toll may be as high as 10,000,” he told Reuters.

Bangladesh officials also expected the death toll to rise as the search for hundreds of people missing after Thursday night’s storm intensified.

Military ships and helicopters were trying to reach thousands of people believed stranded on islands in the Bay of Bengal and in coastal areas still cut off by the devastating storm.

The disaster ministry had recorded 2,217 deaths by Sunday evening, but local media put the figure at more than 3,000. A much improved disaster preparedness plan has been credited with saving scores of lives.

Local officials in affected areas say the death toll given by the ministry is far below the real numbers.

“Some 2,000 people have died in my area alone,” said Anwar Panchayet, chairman of Southkhali, in the district of Bagerhat.

A huge effort was underway to get food, drinking water and shelter to tens of thousands affected by the storm, the worst to hit disaster-prone Bangladesh since 1991 when nearly 143,000 people died.

Cyclone Sidr smashed into the country’s southern coastline late on Thursday night with 250 kph (155 mph) winds that whipped up a five metre tidal surge.

Most of the deaths came from the surge washing away homes and strong winds blowing down dwellings. Many others drowned or were lost at sea.

US SENDING AID AND SHIPS

U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife have conveyed condolences to the Bangladesh cyclone victims, as Washington offered an initial grant of $2.1 million for emergency relief, a U.S. embassy statement said on Sunday.

Additionally, the USS Essex and the USS Kearsarge are on the way to Bangladesh to assist in relief and rescue operations, it added.

Aid officials said damage from the storm was very severe.

The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society had appealed to the International Red Cross for $6 million for relief and rehabilitation in the cyclone-affected districts.

“Our relief teams have started emergency distribution, with an initial coverage of 100,000 people,” Vince Edwards, national director of World Vision Bangladesh.

Helicopters flew sorties to devastated areas, dropping food, drinking water and medicine for the survivors.

“There are not many places where we can land,” said one pilot, as large areas were still under water.

Several fishermen picked by a trawler from sea said they saw dozens of bodies floating in the waters near the Sundarban mangrove forest, a world heritage site and home to the endangered Royal Bengal tiger.

They also saw scores of dead deer and other wildlife floating in the Pashur river, near the forest.

Tapan Chowdhury, a government adviser for food and disaster management, described the cyclone as a “national calamity” and urged all to come forward to help the victims.

“Everybody, including all political parties, should join the relief efforts,” he said, adding that “aid pledges from the international community have so far been good",

Relief operators on the ground said supplies were still inadequate and that the government should make an immediate plea for more international aid to avert a “human disaster.” (Additional reporting by Ruma Paul, Serajul Islam Quadir, Masud Karim and Nizam Ahmed; Editing by David Fox)

DHAKA, Nov 17 (bdnews24.com) – The death toll from the devastating cyclone that battered the country climbed to 1,784, according to the latest tally released by the disaster management ministry Saturday night.

Earlier in a press conference in the Armed Forces Division in Dhaka cantonment Saturday, Lt Col Main Ullah Chowdhury said that around 4,000 people had been injured in the storm across the coastal region.

Rescuers struggled to reach thousands of survivors Saturday, a day after cyclone Sidr ravaged the southern arc, officials said.

Chowdhury said more than 3,000 troops of the Infantry Division along with members of the Bangladesh Navy and the Air Force took part in the rescue and relief operations.

Four well-equipped army medical teams were deployed while nine helicopters of the Bangladesh Air Force rushed relief to many worst-hit areas, including Heron Point in Sundarbans, Dublarchar, Kuakata, Mothbaria, Sharan Khola and Pathar Ghata.

About 66 tonnes of relief—mainly dry food, drinking water and emergency survival kits–have been air-lifted by the army helicopters until Saturday, he said.

Brig Gen Qazi Abidus Samad, director (Operations and Plans) of the Armed Forces Division, said they were trying to handle the post-disaster situation with own resources.

But, he said, there was scope for assistance from friendly nations including the United States to reconstruct infrastructure.

He said a medical team of the US army, which was in Comilla for a joint exercise with Bangladesh Army, had shown their interest to stand beside cyclone victims.

“The government is yet to make a final decision. We expect a decision in a day or two on the matter,” Samad said, adding that the US team was in Dhaka now and halted their return to the country.

The death count from the cyclone, which measured more powerful than the 1991 elemental swoop, was still much less than previous death tolls from cyclones.

Tens of thousands of people passed tense hours without power although the government struggled to ensure electricity through what came to be known as “load management” much across the country.

Car users, cabbies and autorickshaw drivers stretched queues for gas in the city and elsewhere Saturday morning, as hours of blackouts halted the operations of filling stations through Friday night.

Naval ships scoured the pummelled coastal areas for hundreds of people reported missing and to clear river channels clogged with sunken boats and vessels to restore normal navigation, officials said.

Helicopters flew sorties to devastated areas, dropping food, drinking water and medicine for the survivors.

DHAKA (AFP) — Impoverished Bangladesh was Friday facing massive devastation after a powerful cyclone ripped through its southwestern coast before sweeping north towards the capital Dhaka.

The eye of cyclone Sidr, shown in satellite images as a huge swirling white mass moving in from the Bay of Bengal, hit land on Thursday evening.

Ferocious winds and rains uprooted trees, destroyed countless flimsy bamboo and tin homes and snapped phone and power lines.

“Many trees have been uprooted and houses and schools blown away,” said Mostofa Kamal, an official in Barisal, 120 kilometres south of Dhaka.

“There are no reports of deaths so far. We cannot get out to get much information because of the severe storm,” Kamal, a relief and rehabilitation officer, told AFP by telephone.

Southern areas were plunged into darkness as electricity supplies were snapped and “innumerable” homes were flattened, a report by the private UNB news agency said quoting correspondents.

Officials reported wind speeds of 220 to 240 kilometres (140 to 155 miles) an hour in what they described as one of the worst storms in years.

Tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of people in the southwest of the country were moved to special evacuation shelters in a bid to avoid the mass casulaties caused by previous cyclones.

Although officials said they were optimistic that the death toll would turn out to be low, they feared daylight would reveal widespread destruction.

“We expect the damage to be enormous,” said an official of the disaster management and relief ministry.

So far only one casualty has been reported – an elderly man who died when a small boat carrying 17 people across a river in southern Satkhira district capsized during the storm. All of the other passengers were able to swim to shore, an official said.

Experts described Sidr as similar in strength to the 1991 storm that triggered a tidal wave that killed an estimated 138,000 people.

Another cyclone in 1970 killed up to half a million people in the disaster-prone and impoverished country.

But Bangladesh has since then moved to set up a complex early warning system and evacuation programme targeting those in low-lying coastal areas which are prone to flooding.

The head of the Bangladeshi meteorological department, Samarendra Karmakar, told AFP he was optimistic that the evacuation programme would spare the country the huge loss of life seen in previous decades.

“It is not less severe than the 1991 cyclone, in some places it is more severe. But we are expecting less casualties this time because the government took early measures. We alerted people to be evacuated early,” he said.

India has also been lashed by the cyclone, which forecasters said would fizzle out on Saturday over India’s northeast, just south of the mountain kingdom of Bhutan.

Karmakar said rivers in the Sunderbans area, a vast mangrove forest straddling the India-Bangladesh border and the natural habitat of endangered Royal Bengal tigers, had severely swollen as the storm moved north in the direction of Dhaka.

In Bangladesh the main sea port at Chittagong, to the east of the cyclone’s path, was also shut down as a precaution.

DHAKA, Nov 14 (Reuters) – The Met office Wednesday evening sounded great danger signal No. 10 for Mongla port and great danger signal 9 for Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar as a severe storm in the Bay of Bengal was expected to make landfall Thursday.

The weather warning left at least 100 tourists trapped on the St Martin’s Island as ships and country boats were ordered off the sea. The Chittagong Port Authority suspended operations.

“We have suspended loading and unloading of cargo on the mother vessels at the outer anchorage as the sea has turned turbulent,” a port official said.

Thousands of coastguards, police, army and volunteers were on standby to undertake emergency rescue and relief operation once the storm made landfall.

In a midnight bulletin, the Met office said the storm was 705 miles off Chittagong, 625 miles off Cox’s Bazar and 650 miles off Mongla.

Bangladesh’s main tourist resort, Cox’s Bazar, wore a deserted look on Wednesday and hotels were largely empty, officials and witnesses said.

Residents had packed food and other essentials in case they needed to evacuate, a Reuters journalist in Cox’s Bazar said.

High waves were had begun slamming the shore, he said.

The storm is likely to intensify further and move in a northerly direction and may cross Khulna-Barisal coast by Thursday noon, the weather office said in the latest advisory.

The maximum sustained wind speed within 74km of the storm centre is about 190kph rising to 210kph in gusts or squalls.

“The sea will remain very high,” the weathercast said.

Under the influence of the storm, the coastal districts of Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Noakhali, Luxmipur, Bhola, Barisal, Patuakhali, Borguna, Chandpur, Pirozpur, Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira and their offshore are likely to experience gusty or squally winds speed 60-80kph or more. The areas are likely to be inundated by a storm surge of 8-10 feet above normal astronomical tide.

Indian officials said Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal state, should expect to be hit by “squally winds and heavy rainfall". The neighbouring state of Orissa would also be affected.

The food and disaster management ministry has opened a control room to provide round-the-clock information about the hurricane and maintain communications. Call the control room on 7160454, 7162116 and 7164115.

DHAKA, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) – Bangladesh signed an “Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network” on Friday at the UN Headquarters in New York, private new agency UNB reported Saturday.

Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ismat Jahan signed the agreement on behalf of the Bangladeshi government.

The Trans-Asian Railway Network Agreement is a project of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to create a transcontinental railway network across Europe and Asia.

This agreement will enable Bangladesh to expand its rail communications with other Asian countries, and subsequently with Europe.

Initially, 18 countries signed the agreement on Nov. 10 last year in Jakarta. With Bangladesh’s joining the agreement, the number has now increased to 20.

Dhaka, Nov 10 (bdnews24.com) – Shaheed Noor Hossain Day was observed Saturday with different political, socio-cultural organisations and professional bodies placing wreaths at Noor Hossain Square.

Awami League leaders Abdur Razzak, Motia Chowdhury and Advocate Shahara Khatun led a number of party workers to Noor Hossain Square at about 9am and paid homage to the martyr.

On Nov 10, 1987, Noor Hossain was shot dead by police during a demonstration against the autocratic rule of the then army strongman HM Ershad.

Gono Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain and Pankaj Bhhattacharya were also present at the memorial.

Noor Hossain took to the streets with the slogan ‘Down with autocracy, free democracy’ inscribed on his chest and back. The sacrifice of Noor Hossain had led to a mass upsurge that toppled the autocratic ruler.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Gonotantrik Bam Morcha, Workers Party of Bangladesh, BSD, Noor Hossain Sangsad, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Bangladesh Chhatra League, Chhatra Sangram Parishad, Chhatra Maitry, Jubo League and Shechchhasebak League also placed wreaths.

BNP and its front organisations did not hold any programme marking the day.

Noor Hossain was born in 1961 in the city’s Narinda area. His father was a rickshaw puller. He studied up to grade VIII and did a driving course.

Bane Election - 2007

Date:
Saturday, November 10, 2007

Time:
08:00 AM to 06:00 PM

Venue:
Morse School
40 Granite Street
Cambridge, MA

Dhaka, Nov 4 (bdnews24.com) – The Rapid Action Battalion paraded Hotel Purbani International managing director Mahbubur Rahman Joynal and his girlfriend before reporters Sunday night, hours after they were arrested at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka.

Accused in four cases, Joynal, 55, surrendered to the CMM’s Court but chief metropolitan magistrate Enamul Haque refused to accept the surrender.

An assistant to the CMM said the day’s working hours were over and it was too late for a person to surrender.

Joynal’s 26-year-old girlfriend Jannatul Ferdous, nicknamed Niki or Nikita, had earlier been arrested by the RAB as she arrived at the CMM’s Court, also to turn herself in.

The arrest of the two is considered a “much-coveted catch” as the RAB widened its hunt for the businessman and his girlfriend, both accused of having close ties to the Yaba trade.

As part of the recent drive against the drug, a RAB-3 team raided Joynal’s home in Dhanmondi Monday to arrest Niki, a well-known model.

Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun, a lawyer for the two, told bdnews24.com: “We came to court to seek justice, but that was not possible. Jannatul Ferdous was illegally dragged away by the security officers.”

At least 30 lawyers were on the court premises when the drama unfolded, bdnews24.com’s legal affairs correspondent reported from the scene.

WHAT RAB SAYS

In the RAB-3 office in Tikatuli, commanding officer Sultan Mohammad Nurani briefed the media on the buildup to the arrest and said Joynal and Niki were just outside their Dhanmondi home when the RAB officers arrived on the night of October 29.

“But the two sped away in a car and we could not identify them as we had no pictures of them at the time,” he said.

The same night, according to Nurani, Joynal drove northbound, down the Dhaka-Tangail Highway, along with Niki in an attempt to escape arrest.

In Tangail, they checked into a guesthouse to spend the night.

“Joynal was helpless and his friends walked out on him when they saw pictures of the raid on his Dhanmondi home in newspapers,” Nurani claimed.

The RAB had formed five units to trace the two and arrested a cousin of Niki in Chittagong to extract intelligence about their whereabouts.

The elite force, Nurani said, had almost closed in on them in a village of Gazipur, but the two left the house of a relative one and a half hours before the RAB team arrived there, Nurani said.

Joynal and Niki then moved back to Dhaka.

Nurani said RAB officers were dispatched to the Supreme Court and trial court areas to work undercover, as “we knew they would seek anticipatory bails from the High Court or surrender to the trial court".

The RAB officers put up several checkpoints on the roads to the High Court and the CMM’s Court.

Around 5pm Sunday, Joynal and Niki arrived at the CMM’s court by CNG autorickshaw.

“She was in burqa—her face covered in veil. She tried to hide her face when a RAB officer stopped her,” Nurani said in his briefing.

Sure of Niki’s identity, a woman RAB officer, meanwhile, grabbed her, creating chaos in the area.

“It created scope for Joynal to rush into the court premises,” Nurani said.

DESPERATE DASH FOR SURRENDER

From Gazipur, Joynal and Niki first hired a microbus to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital, en route to Old Dhaka where the CMM’s Court is located.

“The two fugitives meandered through the narrow lanes to the court,” Nurani said.

bdnews24.com’s legal affairs correspondent reported from the scene that a team of lawyers had rushed to file petitions seeking approval to send Joynal and Niki to jail, in a bid to bypass arrest or remand.

But a GRO (general recording officer) told the lawyers that petitions could not be filed without approval from the CMM.

The surrender of Joynal became uncertain.

Minutes later, court police sub-inspector Aliar Rahman said the CMM would not accept the appeals for surrender.

The lawyers desperately led Joynal into a room on the court premises to evade the arrest attempt by the RAB officers.

He was finally arrested on the stairs of the new court building.