Terrible cyclone in Bangladesh - Death toll 2,300, could reach 10,000

[Sparkly]

Maybe you've already discussed this, or maybe it's hard to know what to say...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071119/ap_on_re_as/bangladesh_cyclone

Bangladesh cyclone deaths climb to 2,300

By PARVEEN AHMED, Associated Press Writer 54 minutes ago

BARGUNA, Bangladesh - The death toll from Bangladesh's most devastating storm in a decade climbed to at least 2,300 on Sunday and relief officials warned the figure could jump sharply as rescuers reach more isolated areas.

Teams from international aid organizations worked with army troops in a massive rescue effort that drew help from around the world. Rescue workers cleared roads of fallen trees and twisted roofs to reach remote villages, but tents, rice, water and other relief items were slow to arrive. Hungry survivors, thousands of whom were left homeless, scrambled for food.

(snip)
The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, said that it believed the toll could hit 10,000 once rescuers reach islands off the coast of the low-lying river delta nation.

(snip)
Squatting in a muddy field with his wife, 45-year-old farmer Asad Ali said their their 5-year-old daughter, the couple's only child, had been fatally crushed beneath their toppled thatched hut in Barguna, one of the hardest-hit districts.

:cry:

[Olney Blue]

1. This is devastating.

:cry:

[Glorfindel]

2. How horrible, truly awful. Is there any long-term hope for Bangladesh?

It's a swamp the size of Iowa with 140,000,000 people in it and no real resources. I hope we can offer some immediate aide for the cyclone victims, but as global warming continues and sea levels rise, countries like this will suffer earliest and worst. ;(