NETROKONA, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Bangladeshi authorities sent food and emergency supplies
to the north on Friday as the toll from a violent storm rose to 66 with bodies recovered
from ponds, rice fields and ruined homes.
Survivors buried the dead and tended injured, many lying in the open.
In several villages,
mass prayers were held for the victims.
"Village after village is lying in ruins. People are still in trauma.
Only the brave are
trying to rebuild their lives," said Prasanta Kumar Das, a local official in Netrokona, a
town in the north near areas that bore the brunt of the storm on Wednesday
night.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and opposition leader Sheikh Hasina
were both due to visit
devastated villages on Friday, officials said.
The death toll was expected to rise further as many of about 2,000
people injured in the
storm were still in critical condition, officials and witnesses said.
Hospitals were crammed with hundreds of people seeking treatment for
injuries caused by
flying debris.
Many were hit by corrugated tin ripped off roofs; others broke legs
or hands or were found
half buried in swampy rice fields, witnesses said.
"We are facing an uphill battle trying to reach all the victims and
getting aid to them.
There is a lot of work ahead of us," Nurul Islam, an aid worker, said
from Netrokona.
Officials said tens of thousands of people were made homeless when
the tornado-speed winds
tore through at least 20 villages in Mymensingh and Netrokona districts.
Paddy fields were damaged both by winds and hailstones accompanying
rain, officials said.
Officials supervising rescue and relief efforts said the scale of destruction
suggested the
wind speed could have been more than 250 kph (150 mph) and the Dhaka meteorology office said
the storm was probably a tornado.
Storms and tornadoes are common in densely populated Bangladesh in
the hot season, sometimes
killing hundreds of people.
(Additional reporting by Nizam Ahmed)
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The News Today
Tornado kills 70
Our Correspondent
MYMENSINGH, Apr 15: At least 70 people including women and children
were killed and hundreds
injured when a tornado hit 25 villages in Mymensingh and Netrakona districts yesterday. Many
villagers have been missing as the violent storm left a trail of devastation in the villages
of Haluaghat upazila in Mymensingh. UNB adds: Official sources confirmed 56 deaths, but
locals said the figure must be around 70 or more as reports of death and destruction caused
by the twister were emerging from remote areas. According to reports received from the
tornado-hit areas, at least 42 people were killed in Netrakona and 30 in Mymensingh as
houses, trees-almost anything that fell in the course of the violent storm — were blown
down.
Many villagers missing as the violent storm leaves a trail of devastation
in Mymensingh,
Netrakona
MYMENSINGH, Apr 15: At least 70 people including women and children were killed and hundreds
injured when a tornado hit 25 villages in Mymensingh and Netrakona districts
yesterday.
Many villagers have been missing as the violent storm left a trail
of devastation in the
villages of Haluaghat upazila in Mymensingh.
UNB adds: Official sources confirmed 56 deaths, but locals said the
figure must be around 70
or more as reports of death and destruction caused by the twister were emerging from remote
areas.
According to reports received from the tornado-hit areas, at least
42 people were killed in
Netrakona and 30 in Mymensingh as houses, trees-almost anything that fell in the course of
the violent storm — were blown down.
Many villagers remained missing since the scourge
struck early Wednesday night.
Of the injured, about 400 people were admitted to the Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital
and 100 others to the Haluaghat Health Complex.
Police sources in Netrakona said some 26 people were killed in Sadar
and five in Purbadhala
upazila. Seven injured people of Netrakona died at Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital.
They said 18 people died in Haluaghat, but unofficial tally rose to
30 in the upazila of
Mymensingh district. Names of 21 of the victims were available.
The tornado hit frontier upazila Haluaghat at about 6:45 pm while Netrakona
Sadar and
Purbadhala upazilas at around 9 pm. The scourge lasted a few minutes
only.
Six villages in Haluaghat were reduced to wrecks. The villages are
Gazirvita, Boalmara,
Sumuliapara, Surjapur, Najobkanda and Kalianikanda.
Worst hit were three villages in Netrakona Sadar upazila--Uladi, Kanchanpur
and Balia--and
four villages of Purbadhala Sadar, Dhala, Agia and Bhogla of Purbadhala
upazila.
Survivors said the severe tornado left the villages as a barren land
under rubble within few
minutes. Abul Kashem of Sumuliapara in Haluaghat who survived the frenzy of the nature said
that there came drizzling before the cruel tornado hit the villages with big bang. “As I got
back sense, I found nothing around me… everything was swept away by the storms,” Kashem
said.
George Mia of Kaliakandi village said he could only see the bodies
of victims and hear wails
of the injured people as the tornado with all its cruelty flattened houses, crops and trees.
“The intensity of the tornado was so strong that even fishes swam out
of ponds,” he said.
President Professor Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed visited Mymensingh Medical College
Hospital at around
12:35 pm and inquired about the treatment of the injured people.
Health Minister Dr. Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Disaster Management
and Relief Minister
Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, State Minister for Energy AKM Musharraf Hossain and State
Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar visited the tornado-hit Netrakona Sadar and
Purbadhala and Haluaghat upazilas Thursday noon.
The Ministers also visited the MMCH and inquired about the treatment
of the injured people.
Meanwhile another report from Dhaka adds: Prime Minister Khaleda Zia
Thursday expressed deep
sorrow at the loss of lives and property in tornadoes that hit Netrakona and Mymensingh
districts Wednesday night.
In a message, the Prime Minister conveyed her sympathy to the family
members of the victims
and prayed for salvation of the departed souls.
She also wished early recovery of the injured and asked the authorities
concerned to provide
necessary treatment to those injured in the tornadoes.
The Prime Minister also directed the public representatives and the
district administration
to expedite relief and rehabilitation works in the affected areas.
UNB further adds: Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina will visit tornado-hit
areas of Netrakona
and Mymensingh districts today (Friday).
She will first visit Mymensingh Medical College Hospital to see the
injured in the morning.
Later, she will visit Haluaghat and Gazir Vita in Mymensingh and Mougati and Medini areas in
Netrakona sadar, which were devastated by Wednesday’s tornado, to express her sympathy to
the tornado-hit people.
Front Page
Daily Star
66 killed as twisters tear thru' 2 districts
700 injured, seven villages stand in ruins in Mymensingh, Netrakona
Staff Correspondent
Twin tornadoes packing destructive winds cut swathes through Netrakona and Mymensingh
districts on Wednesday, killing at least 66 people and injuring over 2000 others, police and
witnesses said.
The twisters, coinciding with the celebrations of New Year's Day on
Bangla calendar, also
destroyed thousands of houses, sent debris flying in every direction and destroyed crops in
the fields.
Our Netrakona correspondent adds: Three idyllic villages in Sadar upazila
stood in matchwood
as one of the giant tornadoes with wind speeds of 120km an hour tore through the area for 20
minutes from 7:45pm, killing 42 people. Another six people were killed by the raging winds
in Purbadhala upazila.
The twister, accompanied by hails, flattened about 7,000 houses, levelled
trees, knocked
down electric poles and rained debris on people running for cover after
house collapse.
The dead, largely fatally hit by flying corrugated iron roofs, included
Golam Hossain, 30,
Sathi, 5, Mukta, 40, Haji Akhtaruddin, 60, Rupchand, 16, Bakul, 25, Faruq, 8, Nur Jahan, 40,
Asia, 75, Harun, 10, Alpana, 25, Jaheda, 14, Kajal, 20, Jubed Ali, 22, Noor Jahan, 40, and
Adam Khan, 65.
Our Mymensingh correspondent adds: At least 18 people, including nine
women and three
children, were killed and 400 others injured when the tornado ripped through four villages
in Haluaghat upazila.
The dead included Aklima, 12, Jinat Ali, 42, his daughter Tahera Khatun,
5, Anju Ara Khatun,
Selina Khatun, 30, Mansura, 2, Shila, 4, Banesa, 20, Julmat Ali, 40, Abeng Deo, 35, Selina
Azim, 20, Mohila Azim, 40, Pahela Patra, 20, Dr Gazi Shamsul Huda, 30,
and Zhiti Kuda, 45.
Police said the violent twister, unheard of in the living memory in
the area, razed over 300
houses to the ground in Gazir Bhita, Boalmara, Sumergulia Para and Surjopur
villages.
'RUSH RELIEF’
"I have never ever seen such a monster twister rumble through our village,"
said 60-year-old
Abdur Rahim of village Sumergulia.
"Most villagers are living in the open in the wake of the disaster.
They are in dire need of
food, shelter and medicine. The authorities should rush relief in the flattened villages," a
villager said.
Russell Ahmed, a college student of the neighbourhood, said the death
count could have
climbed higher if people from neighbouring villages did not come to the rescue of the
injured.
Our Moulvibazar correspondent adds: A nor'wester lashed four villages
in Rajnagar upazila in
the district, leaving 60 people injured and 450 houses damaged.
Over 300 people, injured in the tornadoes, are undergoing treatment
in Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital (MMCH) and 400 others in Netrakona Sadar Hospital and Haluaghat Health
Complex.
President Iajuddin Ahmed yesterday visited the MMCH to see the tornado-injured
people.
After a scheduled programme in the town, he went to the hospital and
asked the doctors to
ensure proper treatment of the injured.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia expressed profound shock at the loss of
life and property in the
tornadoes and Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina was planning a visit to the devastated
villages today.
Health Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Relief and Disaster Management
Minister
Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf and State Minister for Home Lutfozzaman Babar rushed to the
tornado-torn areas yesterday and distributed Tk 5 lakh in cash, 200 tonnes of rice and 2,000
bundles of corrugated iron sheets in Netrakona.
FARMS IN PERIL
The agriculture ministry said the tornadoes and a train of nor'westers
at the beginning of
this summer destroyed farm productions, especially boro rice, wheat, jute and summer
vegetables on 6,850 hectares in 11 central, northern and northeastern
districts.
The storms presented a drag on the production of boro in Comilla, Brahmanbaria,
Netrakona,
Naogaon, Bogra, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Rajshahi, Sirajganj, Sunamganj and Moulvibazar
districts. The crop showed signs of good harvest this year.
The Netrakona tornado damaged 20 percent of crops and uprooted 11,000
fruit trees, officials
told The Daily Star.
The tornado in Haluaghat destroyed watermelons on 40 hectares and played
havoc with summer
vegetables.
Boro, which contributes half of Bangladesh's annual rice output, was
cultivated in 4 million
hectares this year, up from 3.6 million hectares last year.
Despite a prolonged drought-like situation at an earlier stage of boro
ripening season and
power crisis-induced irrigation problems, officials expected 1.30 crore tonnes of yield this
year, up from 1.22 crore tonnes last year.
Officials said the boro output would largely depend on the frequency
and ferocity of
tornadoes and nor'westers in the next two weeks. FPRIVATE
"TYPE=PICT;ALT=Picture"
People retrieve a piece of furniture from the rubble left by a tornado
that tore through
Haluaghat in Mymensingh on Wednesday. PHOTO: Reuters
News Today
Twister victims live under open sky
Harrowing tales of Kanchanpur: Succour, dole too meagre: Death toll rises to 74: Storm
lashes Sunamganj
MYMENSINGH, Apr 16: The air over the tornado-hit villages in Netrakona and Haluaghat became
heavy with the smell of decomposing corpses and carcasses of cattle as the death toll from
Wednesday’s severe tornado rose to 74 today with new death and the bodies recovered, reports
UNB.
The relief work has begun, but it is too meagre to meet the demand.
Hapless villagers, who
lost everything, are living under open sky without adequate food and
water.
Those who luckily survived the fury of nature were busy arranging burial
of their
unfortunate near and dear ones. Some were digging grave for their lost relatives, some for
head of cattle killed by the tornado. Local rescuers found a beheaded body of a woman, Sapia
(25), and of a little boy, Matin, in Kanchanpur village of Netrakona Sadar upazila today.
Two tornado-injured people died at Mymensingh Medical College Hospital Thursday night
raising the unofficial death toll to 74.
However, the official death figure from the tornado was put at 62 with
the new deaths. Those
who died Thursday night were identified as Sultana, 40, and Abdul Latif,
aged about 30.
Some army medical teams along with local medical teams are providing
treatment to the
injured people in 13 villages of the tornado-hit three upazilas. Police, BDR and volunteers
are also working for the rehabilitation of the tornado victims.
The administration distributed 100 metric tons of rice, 250 bundles
of CI
sheet, 300 pieces of saree, 200 pieces of lungi and Tk 250,000 among
the victims of six
villages in Haluaghat upazila of Mymensingh.
Besides, some 30 tons of rice and some quantity of flattened rice and
molasses were
distributed among the affected people of Sadar and Purbadhala upazilas in Netrakona,
according to relief and rehabilitation offices in Mymensingh and Netrakona
districts.
Another report from Sunamganj adds: A tropical storm swept the district
town and its
adjacent areas on Thursday night, injuring more than 50 people.
Hospital sources said 47 of the injured were treated at the Sadar Hospital.
The storm hit the areas at about 7:45pm and lasted for a few minutes,
flattening some 300
houses, uprooting huge trees and toppling a few electric poles.
Whip Fazlul Haq Asfia and high officials of local administration visited
the storm-ravaged
areas.
Relief, rehab yet to gather pace
Tornado death toll tops 72
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Death toll from Wednesday’s tornado rose to 72 Friday as rescuers recovered
more bodies,
buried under razed huts, and two critically-injured victims died at Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital.
Meanwhile, thousands of people in at least 29 villages
of Mymensingh and Netrakona,
ravaged by the tornado, spent another night under open sky virtually without food and
drinking water.
Relief and rehabilitation work was yet to gather desired
momentum, local people said.
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Sheikh Hasina,
who visited some tornado-torn
villages in Mymensingh and Netrakona Friday, expressed ‘dissatisfaction’ over relief and
rehabilitation initiatives of the government.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who flew on a helicopter to
the scene of destruction less
than a couple of hours after Hasina had left Netrakona for Dhaka, ordered the Mymensingh and
Netrakona district administrations to ensure immediate supply of relief materials and start
rehabilitation of the homeless people.
“We will provide all-out support to the affected people
recover the loss,” she told
villagers during a visit to an affected village. “Do not feel lonely at this hour of
distress. The government is very much with you.”
She distributed relief material among the victims.
Hasina, who drove from Dhaka to Netrakona and then to
Mymensingh, also distributed relief
materials.
The Awami League president asked her party members to
join hands with the administration
to rehabilitate the tornado victims.
“We are always with you… and the Awami League workers
will help you build your homes,”
the former prime minister told villagers after distributing some dry food, sari, lungi and
cash to some tornado victims in Purbadhala.
Some government and non-government aid-workers had, meanwhile,
started distribution of
relief materials in the tornado-hit areas. Their initiatives proved inadequate, given the
sheer number of affected people and the extent of damage.
According to the UNB, local rescuers found the beheaded
body of a woman, Sapia, 25, and
of a minor boy, Matin, in Kanchanpur village of Netrakona Sadar upazila
on Friday.
Our Netrakona correspondent reports that rescuers recovered
six decomposed bodies from
different places in Kanchanpur village.
Official sources confirmed 41 deaths in the district.
They fear the death figure may go
up.
Earlier on Thursday night, two tornado victims died at
Mymensingh Medical College
Hospital.
Some 280 people are undergoing treatment at the medical
college hospital while 460 at the
Netrakona Sadar Hospital.
Members of the army medical corps have been called in
to aid civilian doctors.
In Mymensingh, the administration distributed 100 tonnes
of rice, 250 bundles of CI
sheet, 300 pieces of sari, 200 pieces of lungi and Tk 250,000 among victims of six villages
in Haluaghat upazila.
In Netrakona, the government has allocated Tk 500,000
in cash and two tonnes of rice, a
bundle of CI sheet and 500 sari and lungi for the victims.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Age
How many really missing?
Hospitals advising hapless people to buy medicine
KHADIMUL ISLAM, back from Netrakona
Hurida, a hapless tiny girl injured and hospitalised following the
powerful tornado that
tore through 29 villages in Mymensingh and Netrakona districts, does not know three days
after the April 14 twister whether her parents are alive or if she, like many tornado
victims, will be an orphan.
She was among the hundreds of the injured when tornado
hit Battipara village of Sripur in
Netrakona district. She was brought to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital where she lay in
utter dismay without any companion or proper treatment of her injuries.
A weeping Hurida, aged about six, told New Age that she
did not know anything about her
family members. But a neighbour of Hurida, who was also lying in a bed of Ward no-10, told
this correspondent that other four family members of Hurida were admitted to Netrokona
Hospital with serious injuries.
Hurida is not the lone instance, a good number of injured
persons, particularly children
and women are still unaware of the whereabouts of their dear ones.
As of Friday evening, a total of 280 people were undergoing
treatment in Mymensingh
Medical College Hospital and 460 more in the Netrakona Hospital, according
to sources.
In addition, rumours that many people were missing, had
put wounded survivors like Hurida
into utter despair about fate of their family members.
Rescuers Friday recovered six decomposed bodies from the
debries in Knachanpur village of
Netrakona.
Akkas, an elderly villager who was away from his home
when the tornado struck his
village, said on return after the devastation, he could not locate his home as it was not
there.
“I rushed to the village, at first sight I did not find
my own house as there was no
house standing, later I got some of my homestead under uprooted trees,” Akkas recalled while
looking for his family at a Mymensingh hospital.
Talking to New Age at the hospital, Akkas, who hailed
from tornado-ravaged Shaldia
village of Purbadhala in Netrakona, said he managed to rescue three of his five children
from under the uprooted trees.
“Without waiting for the missing two children I
took the three injured ones to the
Netrakona Hospital,” Akkas said, adding he did not yet know whether his two children were
dead or alive.
Quddus, a peasant of Hasimpur village under Rowha Union
of Netrakona now bed-ridden in
the Mymensingh Hospital with leg injuries, complained that he was not being provided with
medicine prescribed by physician.
“A physician advised me to buy medicine from market, though
he (physician) knew that
everything of my life had been snatched by the tornado” Quddus told New Age on Friday. An
on-duty physician of the hospital, however, denied the allegation.
Quddus, however, was optimistic that his condition would
improve if he got money to buy
the needed medicine.
Visiting hospitals in Mymensingh and Netrakona, this correspondent
saw scores of injured
victims crowding hospital wards with fractured and bruised legs and hands and other wounds
inflicted by flying objects or falling trees during the brief tornado.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Protocol, indeed
MIR ASHFAQUZZAMAN, back from Netrakona, Mymensingh
Some lawmakers of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party had stayed
overnight. Prime
Minister Khaleda Zia had an aerial view of the extent of damage in Wednesday’s tornado from
a helicopter before descending among the victims with sympathetic words and relief materials
on Friday. Less than a couple of hours back, Awami League president Sheikh Hasina had led an
elaborate entourage of party leaders and activists, and pressmen to the scene of
destruction. It was indeed a stars parade in Netrakona, a small district town some 160
kilometres northeast of Dhaka. So was it an elaborate — one might be tempted to say
exaggerated — security.
The trip to the twister-ravaged villages in Netrakona
Sadar took one meandering through
the narrow, winding roads of Netrakona, for no less than five kilometres. The journey was
all the more difficult as one had to negotiate streams of men, women and children, either
heading to or coming back from the ill-fated villages. As if it were not troublesome and
tiresome enough, there had to be policemen, deployed at the point of entry to Netrakona up
to the tornado-torn villages at arms distance, goading people onto the roadside and even off
the road into roadside paddy fields whenever a VIP and his or her entourage
passed through.
Yet, people went in their thousands — some to find out
whether the victims included
anyone they had known or been related to and others only to be there, offering kind words to
those exposed to the cruel whim of nature. They braved the scorching sun and sultry weather
to walk the long miles, bothered but not overwhelmed by overenthusiastic goading of security
people. Some even took jibes at the statuesque, armed policemen. The returns were in most
cases scornful. After all, the men in uniforms had protocol to maintain
and jobs to protect.
And protocol was the order of the day at Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital where 260
men, women and children, who had been injured in Wednesday’s tornado, were undergoing
treatment. The director and senior administrative staff of the hospital were more concerned
about how to handle the VIPs and the concomitant media attention rather
than the patients.
“We have taken elaborate measures so that they [ministers,
lawmakers and opposition
leaders] face no problem while visiting the patients,” the hospital director told New Age
Friday morning when asked what steps the hospital had taken to…
He went on elaborating how the elevators had been kept
on standby for the VIPs, why he
had ordered not to allow more than six people in an elevator, so on and so forth. He had
forgotten that he had been asked what steps the hospital had taken to ensure maximum care
for the tornado victims.
Before he could finish, in came a sports utility van carrying
a state minister. The
director combed his hair and rushed to receive the guest. The state minister steps out of
the van and the first question he asked was whether any media person was there, sending the
hospital director on a run to find one. Protocol, indeed.
Meanwhile, the New Age query about treatment and other
facilities provided to the tornado
victims remained unanswered.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Financial Express
PM assures all-out assistance
UNB, NETRAKONA, April 16
Making a whirlwind visit to Wednesday’s tornado-ravaged villages of
Mymensingh and
Netrakona, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia Friday a assured the affected people of her
government’s all-out assistance.
“We’re all shocked and touched at the loss of lives and
property. We have to transform
the grief into strength and start life anew,” she told the tornado-hit people gathered at
the villages she visited in the afternoon.
Khaleda Zia reminded that the government had immediately
sent dry foods, medicines and
emergency relief materials for the affected people. “Don’t think you are alone in this
crisis. The government and my party are always beside you,” she assured the people asking
them to face the calamity with courage and patience.
Distributing dry foods and clothes among the people left
homeless by the tornado, she
said tube-wells would be sunk and tents be set up so that they could live there until their
homes were built.
Nearly 41 people were killed in Netrakona and 19 in Mymensingh
when tornado lashed five
villages of Mymensingh and 30 villages of Netrakona on Wednesday.
Apart from the steps taken by the district administration,
Army, BDR and other voluntary
organisations have been deployed for the treatment and rehabilitation
of the survivors.
The prime minister first flew to Netrakona in a helicopter
and drove to Kanchanpur of
Moagati union and pledged to provide whatever necessary, including tins for houses, cash for
rehabilitation and medicines for the treatment of the tornado victims.
She told the waiting people that she had been there to
express her solidarity with the
grief-stricken people and also assured that the government was beside them. “There will be
no mistake in the rehabilitation work,” she asserted.
Khaleda Zia then visited Netrakona Sadar Hospital to see
for herself the injured people.
From Netrakona, the prime minister flew to Mymensingh
and visited Boalmaria and
Gazirbhita, two of the four villages, in Haluaghat where 19 people were killed in the
tornado.
She also visited Haluaghat Upazila Health Complex where
the injured were being treated.
She talked to some of the injured and inquired the doctors about the conditions of the
injured.
Relief Minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf, State Minister
for Mineral Resources AKM
Mosharraf Hossain, State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar, Dr Mohammad Ali MP,
Abdul Karim Abbasi MP, PM’s political secretary Mosaddek Ali and local leaders, including
BNP’s office secretary Imran Saleh Prince and Afzal H Khan, accompanied
the prime minister.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hasina demands quick rehab
UNB, MYMENSINGH, April 16
Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina Friday demanded quick rehabilitation
of the tornado affected
people of Netrakona and Mymensingh and distribution of relief materials immediately by
deploying army and BDR personnel.
After visiting tornado-hit Kanchanpur village in Netrakona
and Gazirbhita of Haluaghat in
Mymensingh, she said the government must waive agriculture loans of the farmers, provide CI
sheet, other house-building materials, free medical treatment for the victims and restore
electric supply.
Addressing two spontaneous gatherings in the affected
areas, Hasina said the localities
just disappeared overnight by the deadly tornado that also took away fishes from the ponds,
food grain, houses, cattle and other essentials leaving only injured
people with empty hand.
She castigated the government for its “attitude of apathy”
after the tornado.
“It’s a matter of great regret that the government was
sleeping on Wednesday night when
the tornado hit the localities here. Many people died and loss of life and property rendered
thousands of people helpless,” she said conveying her deep sympathy for the members of the
bereaved families.
The Awami League President asked her arch political rival
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia as
to why adequate relief materials, medical teams and other necessities did not reach the
people in due time.
“People pay tax to the government. It is the duty of the
government to quickly respond to
people’s urgent needs. But the government made delay… What’s wrong if the government
provides Tk 5-7 crore for the victims here?” she said urging the government to provide
relief materials from government coffers, including the Prime Minister’s
Relief Fund.
Hasina said people were “bearing torture and repression
of the government” on one hand
and facing disaster one after another on the other.
“The prime minister announced to visit the area after
five hours of our announcement.
When I fixed my programme to visit here, they came to senses,” the Awami League chief said
adding that she had to reschedule her day’s programme following the announcement of the PM’s
visit.
She alleged that she was obstructed while visiting Netrakona
Sadar Hospital where many
injured people were admitted for treatment. She asked the leaders and workers of Awami
League and other front organisations to form volunteer groups and stand beside the people
with helping hand and arrange drinking water and food immediately.
Hasina urged the tornado-hit people to be patient and
pray to almighty Allah for early
recovery of the injured people.
“Whenever BNP comes to power, disaster comes one after
another causing huge loss of life
and property,” she said. “We must free the people from the misrule of the alliance
government and restore peace and security to public life,” she added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Relief work inadequate while tornado toll hits 74
4/17/2004
The death toll
from Wednesday's severe tornado that hit Netrakona and Haluaghat
rose Friday to 74. However, relief work has begun, but it is too meagre to meet the demand,
sources said. Hapless villagers, who have lost everything, are living under the open sky
without adequate food and water. Those, who luckily survived the fury of the Mother Nature,
were busy arranging burial of their near and dear ones. Some were digging graves for their
lost relatives and some for cattleheads killed by the tornado. Local rescuers found a
beheaded body of a woman, Safia (25), and that of a minor boy, Matin, at Kanchanpur village
of Netrakona Sadar Upazila. On the other hand, two injured people died at Mymensingh Medical
College Hospital Thursday night raising the unofficial death toll to 74. However, the
official death figure from the tornado was put at 62 with the new deaths. Those who died
Thursday night were identified as Sultana (40) and Abdul Latif, aged about 30. Some army
medical teams along with local ones were providing treatment to the injured people in 13
villages of the tornado-hit three upazilas. Police, BDR and volunteers were also working for
the rehabilitation of the tornado victims. See also Back Page — UNB