I’ve been in touch with friends and family back in Bangladesh over the last couple of days, and I genuinely believe that even I had underestimated the loss caused by Sidr. Over 3,000 have been confirmed dead, but this number is expected to rise to over 10,000. Over a million – yes, a million- families have been affected, and hundreds of thousands of livestock and thousands of acres of farmland have been destroyed. It has termed a ‘national calamity’ and rightly so – we are looking at an entire country brought to its knees. I talked to someone yesterday who was travelling in the affected areas, and he told me of entire villages which have disappeared, and the former residents just sitting around in despair on the open ground. I honestly also believe that the government is doing its very best, but it really does have limited capabilities in terms of the speed and comprehensiveness of the aid that it can provide. I think this is not the time for finger pointing, and for once, everyone should get behind the government and other aid agencies and try to help out all those in need. Coastal Bangladesh can be unbelievably difficult to get navigate and of course, it does not help matters that it is one of the most densely populated areas in the entire world. There has already been severe flooding earlier this year, and it is just absolutely terrible terrible luck that Sidr happened to swing by as well. To anyone reading the blog, I strongly urge you to just take a minute and donate whatever little amount you can to help the victims (just to show how far your money will go – a dollar can buy 3 bottles of mineral water easily, or a loaf of bread and eggs). It will help somebody immensely.
Here are the links of some relief agencies I know are doing good work over there:
UNICEF: http://www.unicefusa.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=duLRI8O0H&b=39306&ct=4643317
International Federation of the Red Cross: http://donate.ifrc.org
Save the Children: www.savethechildren.org
Thank you very much.
