As the rescuers recovered more bodies on the fourth day after
the catastrophic cyclone hit Bangladesh's southern and southwestern
coastal part, the death toll by official count rose to 3,113.
Mukta Begum cries after
losing her husband of only three months who was killed in a
devastating storm at Bakerganj, south west of the Bangladesh
capital Dhaka, Nov. 17, 2007.
A press release of the country's Food and Disaster Management
Ministry said that the death toll may go up as 2,062 people still
remained missing in the affected areas.
About 4.1 million people survived the calamity but rendered
homeless are living a subhuman life.
According to the release, a total of 300,000 houses were blown
away while 626,000 damaged partially.
Standing crops on some 906,000 acres (about 367,000 hectares)
were damaged either completely or partially, while some 250,000
domestic animals and poultry birds perished in the calamity.
The deadly cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh's coastal districts last
Thursday night. It was one of the fiercest cyclones that had hit
the region of Bangladesh in the 131 years between 1876 and
2007.
(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)
