The regional director of Caritas has said that it will take a “long time [for the area] to recover” as aid agencies and the Bangladeshi government begin the clear up operation in the wake of Cyclone Roanu, which killed at least 26 people and left hundreds and thousands of people homeless.
The cyclone, which hit Bangladesh on Saturday and was followed by landslides and severe flooding, was caused by the weather pattern phenomenom called El Nino, which has created extreme weather conditions over the last six months.
"Our field officers are trying to determine how many people have been affected [in Bangladesh], what their needs are and what kind of support they have already received," James Gomes, Caritas Chittagong regional director, told ucanews.com.
"We have submitted two situation reports to Caritas Internationalis and donors are likely to respond within 48 hours. Then, we will up aid efforts including the rehabilitation of the victims," Gomes added.
Three days of heavy rain and winds up to 60mph hit the coastal districts of the low-lying nation, affecting also the surrounding islands. The violent cyclone arrived from Sri Lanka, where last week it caused dozens of casualties, most of whom were buried under a mudslide.
More than 12 million people have been affected by the cyclone since Saturday, at least 1.7 million of them are classed as highly vulnerable people, according to a report by the Catholic charity.
Since the storm hit landfall on Saturday, Caritas has activated 246 relief aircraft, while the government evacuated about 2 million people to storm shelters and away from dangerous coastal areas.
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka at least 92 people died from the effects of Roanu, while up to 13 people may have died in Hunan province as the storm progressed east into China and dumped at least 420mm of rain. Chinese meteorologists are warning that the danger had not passed yesterday as the Yangtze river could cause further flooding.
El Nino is a weather event that induces extreme drought in most areas across southeast Asia while warming northern American areas and bringing torrential rain to South America. It is caused by a warming of sea temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific. The current El Nino event, which was responsible for forest fires in Alberta, Canada, and torrential rain in South America, while Australia and parts of Africa suffered from severe drought, has officially finished as sea temperatures returned to normal, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.
Loading ...
