Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The death toll from Cyclone Aila rose to 92 on Tuesday following the recovery of more bodies from different cyclone affected coastal districts in Bangladesh, officials said.
“We’ve confirmed at least 92 dead in different affected coastal districts of Bangladesh,” a senior official of the Food and Disaster Management Ministry told BBN in Dhaka on Tuesday evening.
Over 800 other people were injured and 3.37 million of people affected in the coastal districts during the cyclone, the official said, quoting initial government estimates.
On the other hand, the bodies 98 people have been recovered from the coastal districts since cyclone Aila hit the country’s southwestern coast areas on Monday causing massive destruction in 10 districts, The Daily Star, a local newspaper, reported.
At least 23 people died in Satkhira, 20 in Khulna, 18 in Noakhali, nine each in Bhola and Barisal, six in Patuakhali, five in Laxmipur, three in Narsingdi, two each in Bagerhat and Chapainawabganj, and one in Natore during and after the cyclone, the newspaper reported quoting unofficial sources.
Thousands of thatched houses and a number of embankments in the country’s coastal belt were washed away and hundreds of thousands of islanders were marooned by a tidal surge 10 to 13 feet high caused by the impact of the cyclone, the officials added.
They also said 470,000 families were affected by the Aila in the costal belt where 509 kilometers of embankments were washed away and that caused the flooding in offshore islands.
BBN/SS/SI/AD-27May09-12:51 am (BST)
