Responding to Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh

A mother and child sit atop the debris that was once their home. Photo: REUTERS/RAFIQUR RAHMAN, courtesy of www.alertnet.org

Mercy Corps is working through colleague agencies to bring relief to millions of Bangladeshi families displaced by Cyclone Sidr, one of the biggest storms in decades to hit the impoverished and densely populated South Asian country.

The Category Four storm smashed into Bangladesh on Nov. 15. Its 150-mile-per-hour winds and five-foot storm surges uprooted trees, tore apart homes and left nearly 3,200 people dead, according to the Bangladeshi government.

Your help is needed to help bring aid to families in coastal areas that have been hit the hardest by this disaster.

The storm destroyed over one million homes, as well as causing extensive damage to roads and public buildings, according to the Bangladeshi government. The region has also taken a major hit to their farming industry as a reported 1.8 million acres of crops have been destroyed and hundreds of thousands of livestock killed.

Mercy Corps is helping colleague organizations on the ground in Bangladesh deliver much-needed assistance to what the government says are seven million cyclone-affected survivors.

Mercy Corps has worked in South Asia since the mid-1980s, and currently operates development, health and youth engagement programs in India, Pakistan and Nepal. The agency responded to disastrous regional flooding in Pakistan and Nepal earlier this year, and continues to assist community recovery efforts in both countries.

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