More Tropical storms

1. More Tropical storms

2. Last week … • We talked about very powerful tropical storms • Which one did we talk about in detail? • Where did it do most damage? • These storms have different names in different parts of the world. • Where might you experience a cyclone? • Where might you experience a typhoon? • [answers: Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean?]

3. Now we need a new idea. The countries are divided up – how do you think that is?

4. Now we need a new idea the countries are divided up – how do you think that is? • The red ones are called HICs – this stands for high income countries • The orange ones are called MICs – this stands for middle income countries • The yellow ones are LICs – this stands for low income countries

5. Where are most of the HICs? The MICs? The NICs?

6. Flick back to the map if you like, but which of these are LICs, MICs and HICs?

7. Thinking about especially about HICs, and LICs • If you lived in an HIC, like the US, and you were likely to be in the path of a hurricane or cyclone, what would you expect to happen, for example, would you expect: • That all the protective measures would be in place and working well in case of a storm? • That schools and local authorities would have shown people what they need to do in case of disaster and had practices to make sure these ideas work? • That there to be enough information getting to you about any storms that are on the way? How would you get that information? • That there would a plan to deal with the situation? • That the emergency services would have sufficient organisation and equipment etc to carry out the plan? • That there would be enough food and emergency rations available to help you quickly? • That would be enough money to pay to put things right quickly? • That the disaster would cost billions of $ to put right?

8. Thinking about especially about HICs, and LICs • If you lived in an LIC, like the Bangledesh, and you were likely to be in the path of a hurricane or cyclone, what would you expect to happen, for example, would you expect: • That all the protective measures would be in place and working well in case of a storm? • That schools and local authorities would have shown people what they need to do in case of disaster and had practices to make sure these ideas work? • That there to be enough information getting to you about any storms that are on the way? How would you get that information? • That there would a plan to deal with the situation? • That the emergency services would have sufficient organisation and equipment etc to carry out the plan? • That there would be enough food and emergency rations available to help you quickly? • That would be enough money to pay to put things right quickly? • That the disaster would cost billions of $ to put right?

9. Thinking back to Katrina – which of these expectations would have been correct? • That all the protective measures would be in place and working well in case of a storm? • That schools and local authorities would have shown people what they need to do in case of disaster and had practices to make sure these ideas work? • That there to be enough information getting to you about any storms that are on the way? How would you get that information? • That there would a plan to deal with the situation? • That the emergency services would have sufficient organisation and equipment etc to carry out the plan? • That there would be enough food and emergency rations available to help you quickly? • That would be enough money to pay to put things right quickly? • That the disaster would cost billions of $ to put right?

10. We are going to look at Cyclone Sidr This took place after Katrina on 15 November 2007

11. Where is Bangladesh?

12. Where did Sidr go?

13. Where they prepared? • In 1970 and 1991 there was a huge loss of life in Bangladesh due to cyclones- 500,000 and 143,000 deaths respectively. • There were more than 10 million people in the path of Cyclone Sidr which came spiralling in from the Bay Bengal, gathering force as night fell across the region.

14. But early warning systems were credited with saving thousands of lives. • The system involves sending alerts by mobile telephone. • Officials said that up to 1.5 million people took refuge in cyclone shelters and other government buildings as the cyclone hit the country's southern coast, • "If we had not taken people to the cyclone shelters, tens of thousands of people would have been killed," said K.M. Rahatul Islam, the deputy commissioner of the stricken area.

15. Tens of thousands of people were reported to be fleeing inland in search of shelter, taking only their cattle, food supplies and a few portable possessions along with them. • In the most rural areas, where television and radio was not available, police and local volunteers drove from village to village in cars and auto-rickshaws using megaphones to alert the people to the approaching storm. • In the Sunderbans, where some of the world’s poorest people live on a network of shifting sandbanks, government officials used speedboats to hop from island to island warning villagers to get out. • Bangladesh ordered all fishing trawlers to seek shelter or return to harbour immediately, closed the main air and sea ports at Chittagong and Mongla, and suspended ferry and rail services across the southern region.

16. But Bangladesh's subsistence fishermen, many of whom had no radios to pick up storm warnings, have also been seriously affected with up to 1,000 unaccounted for, according to the Christian aid agency World Vision. • Meteorologists predicted that the districts of Khulna and Barisal - two areas in southern Bangladesh, between the capital Dhaka and the Indian city of Calcutta - would be worst affected. • In Khulna district alone 250,000 people were reported to have been moved to temporary shelter.

17. What actually happened • Weather officials said the cyclone, visible in satellite images as a vicious swirl of cloud more than 300 miles in diameter, had the potential to cause “massive and widespread” destruction. • Its 140mph (240km/h) winds whipping up a 5m high tidal surge. • The cyclone raced north towards Dhaka, the capital, before petering out. • Recall, Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3, so Sidr (a category 4) was much worse

18. The army, the UN and the aid agencies are slowly getting through to people but there is enormous need for drugs, temporary shelter, food and water. Many children, some of them orphaned, are suffering deep shock." • Outlying villages were reported to have the stench of decomposing bodies and animal carcasses filling the air. Forest officials said that the Sundarbans mangrove forest, a world heritage site which is home to the Bengal tiger, had been badly hit with trees damaged over 74,000 acres. • Bangladesh's subsistence fishermen, many of whom had no radios to pick up storm warnings, have also been seriously affected with up to 1,000 unaccounted for, according to the Christian aid agency World Vision. • "Many of us climbed up on trees, but I fell down in panic when I saw a tiger below," said a fisherman on Dublarchar island in the Sundarbans. "The waves then swept me further into the mangrove and I found myself alive when the cyclone was over."

19. The issues – a witness view • One of the growing medical problems is that many children, who are washing or wading through water contaminated by rotting bodies are starting to develop skin conditions. • Many people were injured in the cyclone by falling trees and debris, including children, and their injuries have not been treated. • I saw children with gashes that needed stitches but have been left to fester and get infected.

20. n village after village, barely any accommodation was left standing, and debris lay around, remnants of the houses that were either destroyed by the cyclone or by falling trees.

21. But for all their efforts… • At first it was thought up to 15,000 people were killed. But later it was found that the numbers were much lower, about 3,500. • But 7 million lives left devastated by the cyclone in Bangladesh last week, aid agencies have said as the full extent of the disaster became clear. • In the worst affected districts, 90 per cent of homes and 95 per cent of rice crops and valuable prawn farms were obliterated by the winds, which generated a 20ft tidal surge that swept everything from its path.

22. And so • Fallen trees and flooded roads are also seriously impeding the relief crews' efforts to reach stricken coastal villages, with elephants being used in some areas to clear the heaviest debris. • Officials described the humanitarian situation in coastal districts like Barguna, 130 miles south of the capital Dhaka, as the "worst in decades", a grave assertion in a country that is used to dealing with annual floods and storms. • Tapan Chowdhury, a government adviser for food and disaster management, described the cyclone as a "national calamity" and urged all to come forward to help the victims. • Relief operators on the ground said supplies were still inadequate and that the government should make an immediate plea for more international aid to avert a "human disaster".

23. Bangladesh has called for more aid for tens of thousands of Cyclone Sidr survivors. Many are returning to their battered villages to find that they have become homeless. Most of them are dazed by the scale of destruction. The storm has affected 1m families and killed at least 3,100 people

24. This man is taking shelter on a damaged passenger ferry which ran aground after the storm There is anger among many villagers on the stricken south coast that they have still not received vital supplies like food, water, shelter and medicine.

25. Rescue and relief teams are now reaching areas of Bangladesh devastated by a powerful cyclone. The Dhaka government has described the storm as a national calamity. Though relief teams have now reached most of the remote communities in southern Bangladesh, delivering aid to many areas is extremely difficult and can only be done by boat.

26. Some returnees are beginning to rebuild their lives already, like this woman drying clothes in her damaged home in Rupsha The resilience of the people is already evident as classes resume at this school. It will take a long time for life to get back to normal in affected areas.

27. The long term ( Feb 2008) • More than 1.3m people affected by the Bangladesh cyclone are still living in temporary shelters as the monsoon rains approach, global charity Oxfam warns. • Hundreds of thousands of families live under plastic sheeting, tarpaulin and other basic shelter that leaves them at the mercy of the elements, Oxfam says. • Scores of villages and paddy fields were hit and power and water supplies have not been restored • Oxfam says it has spent $7m on supporting 193,000 people in five of the worst-affected coastal districts.

28. Thinking back to Sidr – which of these expectations would have been correct? • That all the protective measures would be in place and working well in case of a storm? • That schools and local authorities would have shown people what they need to do in case of disaster and had practices to make sure these ideas work? • That there to be enough information getting to you about any storms that are on the way? How would you get that information? • That there would a plan to deal with the situation? • That the emergency services would have sufficient organisation and equipment etc to carry out the plan? • That there would be enough food and emergency rations available to help you quickly? • That would be enough money to pay to put things right quickly? • That the disaster would cost billions of $ to put right?