Rescue operation in Bangladesh's cyclone-hit areasin full swing

By Huang Yanan

SATKHIRA, Bangladesh, May 29 -- The rescue operation in Bangladesh's cyclone-hit areas is in full swing while all concerned sectors have participated in helping the affected people out of sufferings.

Cyclone Aila attacked Bangladesh's southwestern coastal areas on Monday. According to the latest statistics, it has left 147 people dead and millions of others homeless.

Health and Family Welfare Minister AFM Ruhul Huq in an interview told Xinhua on Friday while visiting Shyamnagar Sub-district of Satkhira District, 240 km southwest of capital Dhaka, the priority of the rescue operation is to save the lives of the people.

"We are sending relief goods like water, food and medicine to the cyclone affected places. We pledge the goods will reach to each affected family," Huq said.

"Nobody will starve. Nobody will die of hunger. Nobody will die without treatment," he added.

Huq said, in some places the embankment is broken by the cyclone, leaving more villages under water.

"We must solve the problem immediately. Otherwise the people will be suffering more," he said.

Huq said the government has started rebuilding some embankment.

"This time we will take measures to build more stronger embankment so it will resist the attack of cyclone," he said.

Huq said after the water is gone, the government will consider to help the affected people rebuild their homes.

"That is a tough job for us," he said.

Shyamnagar Sub-district is one of the worst cyclone affected places in Bangladesh.

Dilip Kumal, chief executive of Shyamnagar, told Xinhua that 44people were killed and 200,000 others are homeless in their sub-district.

"Out of the 200,000 homeless people, 100,000 are living in the cyclone centers," he said.

Dilip said they have sufficient relief goods, but the biggest problem is communication for some affected places are very remote and difficult to reach.

"Some roads are damaged. Many people live in islands. These are the reasons why we can't deliver relief goods efficiently," he said.

Bangladesh Army, paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles and Police are involved in the rescue operation.

Lieutenant Colonel Zillul Haque is leading an army rescue team of 250 members in Shyamnagar.

Haque told Xinhua they are arranging boats to send relief goods to the affected people who live in remote islands to make sure nobody die of hunger.

The government Friday sent one helicopter of relief goods to Shyamnagar including 1,000 pieces of Saree, 1,000 kg of Chira (a kind of dry food made of rice), 500 liters of purified water, 300 kg of molasses.

The government has also sent some water treatment equipment to solve the drinking water problem for the majority of the wells are polluted after the cyclone.

M.A. Wazed, joint secretary of Disaster Management Ministry, who came with the helicopter, told Xinhua that the government will send more relief goods to the disaster-stricken areas in case of any need.

In many places of Shyamnager, trucks with water tanks could be seen along the main road, and people were queuing for collecting drinking water.

The Bangladeshi government allocated additional 300 million taka (about 4.3 million U.S. dollars) and 5,000 tons of rice to the affected areas.

With the new allocation, the government has so far allocated a total of 322.3 million taka (about 4.6 million U.S. dollars) and 19,000 tons of rice to the victims.