In November 2007, Christian Aid launched an emergency appeal immediately after the cyclone hit south and south-western Bangladesh in November, killing more than 3,000 people and destroying 1.2 million homes.
According to the Bangladeshi government, Sidr left more than 4 million people homeless and around 9 million without livelihoods.
It also destroyed more than 2 million acres of land and ruined desperately needed crops.
This was a double blow for some areas which had already lost earlier crops in the summer’s monsoon flooding.
Our response
Thanks to your generosity, our appeal has raised £1.6 million. We will also receive a further £436, 604 from the Disasters and Emergencies Committee (DEC) – an umbrella organisation of 13 UK development charities – whose appeal raised a total of £8 million.
Christian Aid will use these funds to help 50,000 families rebuild their lives.
In the first few weeks after the cyclone, we sent £150,000 to support five partners who provided emergency food, cash, clothing, first aid kits, oral rehydration salts and water purification tablets to 100,000 people.
Our partners then moved on to building temporary shelters, repairing wells and distributing vegetable seeds.
They will now start working on long-term rehabilitation efforts such as rebuilding homes, providing livelihood support and helping communities to be better prepared for future disasters.
Meanwhile, a further €300,000, granted by the Humanitarian Department of the European Commission, will provide another 6,000 families specifically with emergency food supplies.
Food shortages
A lack of food is still a major problem. Around half a million tonnes of grain is needed to overcome the current shortfall.
Tota Mia from Mozampurkandi village is typical of many farmers. He lost his rice crop in the August flood. ‘Now I have lost my pulse crop too and my house was completely destroyed by the cyclone,’ he said.
There is also a lack of sufficient housing. ‘Many of the poor people in the affected villages are still living in houses without roofs,’ said Farida Akhter from Christian Aid partner UBINIG.
And as emergency programme officer Neeti Bhargava explains, people are desperate to get back to work. ‘With fishing and agriculture activities badly affected by the cyclone, people, especially those who work as wage labourers are facing a crisis. What we heard most in these areas was people saying 'give us work'.’
How you can help
Please support our appeal so that we can continue to help those most in need.