It’s six months since one of the worst nights in Bangladesh’s recent history.
Last November, Cyclone Sidr hit the country from the Bay of Bengal with 140mph winds, heavy rain and tidal surges.
The worst cyclone in more than 10 years left nearly 4,000 people dead across 26 districts, with 1.8 million families affected in the most damaged areas.
Tearfund launched an appeal that raised £129,000 due to the generosity of our supporters.
That money has allowed our partners in Bangladesh to turn Christian compassion into direct action on the ground.
Restoring lives
Lives are being restored - physically, emotionally, spiritually - and people are being given hope.
Together with other international funds, the appeal money enabled our partners to provide emergency food aid in the first desperate weeks after the storm, but also long-term assistance in the months afterwards.
For example, our partners HEED (Health, Education & Economic Development) and Koinonia have helped rebuild homes.
They’ve also been helping restore livelihoods that were badly disrupted by Sidr.
Fishing boats and nets were lost, the rice crop wiped out and equipment destroyed for traditional industries, such as cloth weaving.
Reconstruction
Our partners have provided new nets, seeds and looms, among other things.
Many roads in Borghuna, Bagerhat and Patuakhali districts were washed away, so partners have provided cash for reconstruction. Similar schemes are repairing embankments and canals.
Tearfund’s Disaster Risk Reduction Officer for Bangladesh, Liu Liu, has just returned from the country.
He said, `I would praise the local people. They are quite resilient and can bounce back quite quickly but they don’t have much to bounce back with. That process can be quite difficult.’
The difficulty is highlighted by the damage to food crops and the impact on the price of a kilo of rice. Between January and February this year, prices rose by more than 50 per cent.
Cyclone shelters
Tearfund is working to ensure that Bangladeshis are better able to cope when the next cyclone inevitably strikes.
This means funding cyclone shelters where hundreds of people at a time can safely wait out the storm and training villagers in evacuation procedures and first aid.
Apart from the Cyclone Sidr response, Tearfund is also running a programme funded by the UK’s Department for International Development to reduce the impact of disasters and better equip communities to cope when they strike.
• Please continue to pray for those affected by the cyclone, particularly those who are elderly and sick, and for the recovery of livelihoods.
• Give thanks for the progress made so far by partners in rebuilding people’s lives.
• Pray for the minority Christian community and for the growth of the church.