People heave a sigh of relief as Bijli spares country
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
FE Report
CHITTAGONG, April 20: Unwrapping plastic tent from his road-side shop, Mohammad thanked Allah for sapping the steam out of Cyclone Bijli that hit Bangladesh's southern coast causing limited damage.
"When the high wind began I heard from radio that the weather office was warning of a major cyclone," said the 40-year-old shopkeeper who sells toys at Patenga beach in the port city of Chittagong.
"They warned that tidal surge as high as 10-15 feet (3-5 metres) may swamp the coastal areas. And it was heading towards our direction," he said.
Mohammad lost nearly a dozen of his relatives when one of the history's devastating cyclones hit Chittagong in 1991. Packing windspeed of over 200 kilometres (125 miles) the cyclone killed at least 138,000 people.
"As the warning siren began, I packed my shop with plastics and took refuge to a nearest cyclone shelter. But thanks to Allah, Bijli could not cause any damage. Even a minor damage would have been a huge loss for us," he added.
Bijli -- the first tropical storm of the 2009 season -- hit Bangladesh coast late Friday weakening before making landfall late Friday.
It left five people dead and damaged only a few mud-built houses and crops on several hundred acres of land.
Like Mohammad, some 20 million people who live in the coastline heaved a sigh of relief after the season's first major storm left the poverty-stricken coastal districts unscathed and their economy safe.
In November 2007, when the last time a major cyclone hit Bangladesh, it killed 3500 people, damaged hundreds of thousands of houses and made millions homeless.
The World Bank said the super Cyclone Sidr damaged crops and properties worth over US$1.7 billion.
Due to the crop loss, rice price doubled in 2008, pushing millions of people -- 40 percent of Bangladesh's 144 million people live on one dollar a day -- on the verge of starvation.
As the Bijli fizzled out, relief is evident everywhere along the Chittagong coast.
"I made special prayers to Bhagoban (God) that the storm did not wash my boat to the sea," said fisherman Samiran Das at Kumira Ghat, some 30 kilometres north-west of Chittagong.
Samiran said he lost hundreds of his relatives and fellow fishermen in 1991 when a super cyclone flattened their village along the Sitakundu coast.
"Our village was washed by a huge wall of water," he said, recalling the 1991 cyclone. "It took years to repair the damage and weeks to eat a full meal."
Impoverished Bangladesh is the global poster boy of natural disasters. The low-lying delta country, criss-crossed with river and nestled by the Bay of Bengal, faces frequent cyclones and floods.
Every time a major cyclone or a flood hits, it sends hundreds of thousands of people below poverty level. Damage to crop and homesteads force people to flee to urban centers where they end up begging or doing menial jobs.
Authorities said they were worried about the fallout of Bijli.
"Already we have been facing some challenges due to the global recession and the BDR carnage," food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzak said referring to the February mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in which soldiers killed dozens of officers.
"A major cyclone would have hit the rice crop which is only weeks away from harvesting. We are lucky cyclone Bijli hardly did any damage."
Global recession has sharply slowed down the country's growth, as exports plunged while hundreds of its overseas workers are returning home every day.
As a direct fallout of the recession, the World Bank said, Bangladesh must have to create more than two million new jobs -- twice the number it needs every year.
The development lender warned of social instability and chaos if it fails to accomplish the uphill task.
CHITTAGONG, April 20: Unwrapping plastic tent from his road-side shop, Mohammad thanked Allah for sapping the steam out of Cyclone Bijli that hit Bangladesh's southern coast causing limited damage.
"When the high wind began I heard from radio that the weather office was warning of a major cyclone," said the 40-year-old shopkeeper who sells toys at Patenga beach in the port city of Chittagong.
"They warned that tidal surge as high as 10-15 feet (3-5 metres) may swamp the coastal areas. And it was heading towards our direction," he said.
Mohammad lost nearly a dozen of his relatives when one of the history's devastating cyclones hit Chittagong in 1991. Packing windspeed of over 200 kilometres (125 miles) the cyclone killed at least 138,000 people.
"As the warning siren began, I packed my shop with plastics and took refuge to a nearest cyclone shelter. But thanks to Allah, Bijli could not cause any damage. Even a minor damage would have been a huge loss for us," he added.
Bijli -- the first tropical storm of the 2009 season -- hit Bangladesh coast late Friday weakening before making landfall late Friday.
It left five people dead and damaged only a few mud-built houses and crops on several hundred acres of land.
Like Mohammad, some 20 million people who live in the coastline heaved a sigh of relief after the season's first major storm left the poverty-stricken coastal districts unscathed and their economy safe.
In November 2007, when the last time a major cyclone hit Bangladesh, it killed 3500 people, damaged hundreds of thousands of houses and made millions homeless.
The World Bank said the super Cyclone Sidr damaged crops and properties worth over US$1.7 billion.
Due to the crop loss, rice price doubled in 2008, pushing millions of people -- 40 percent of Bangladesh's 144 million people live on one dollar a day -- on the verge of starvation.
As the Bijli fizzled out, relief is evident everywhere along the Chittagong coast.
"I made special prayers to Bhagoban (God) that the storm did not wash my boat to the sea," said fisherman Samiran Das at Kumira Ghat, some 30 kilometres north-west of Chittagong.
Samiran said he lost hundreds of his relatives and fellow fishermen in 1991 when a super cyclone flattened their village along the Sitakundu coast.
"Our village was washed by a huge wall of water," he said, recalling the 1991 cyclone. "It took years to repair the damage and weeks to eat a full meal."
Impoverished Bangladesh is the global poster boy of natural disasters. The low-lying delta country, criss-crossed with river and nestled by the Bay of Bengal, faces frequent cyclones and floods.
Every time a major cyclone or a flood hits, it sends hundreds of thousands of people below poverty level. Damage to crop and homesteads force people to flee to urban centers where they end up begging or doing menial jobs.
Authorities said they were worried about the fallout of Bijli.
"Already we have been facing some challenges due to the global recession and the BDR carnage," food and disaster management minister Abdur Razzak said referring to the February mutiny at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in which soldiers killed dozens of officers.
"A major cyclone would have hit the rice crop which is only weeks away from harvesting. We are lucky cyclone Bijli hardly did any damage."
Global recession has sharply slowed down the country's growth, as exports plunged while hundreds of its overseas workers are returning home every day.
As a direct fallout of the recession, the World Bank said, Bangladesh must have to create more than two million new jobs -- twice the number it needs every year.
The development lender warned of social instability and chaos if it fails to accomplish the uphill task.