The trail of devastation left by Cyclone Dorian in Bahamas is beyond description. People are yet to be sure how many are dead, because thousands have been listed as missing.
Exactly the same situation was noticed when a furious cyclone hit the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar coasts on April 29, 1991. Rural government institutions (Union Parishads) were telling members of the Bangladesh Cyclone Preparedness Programme that thousands were missing after the cyclone. CPP executives in Dhaka were not believing their stories on the assumption that those people were giving higher figures just to get supply of relief materials in higher quantities.
The situation started changing from day 3 when bodies of people reported as missing started floating in the bay and adjoining channels. The death toll ultimately totalled 140000 in official counts.
The death toll in Bahamas might not be that high because of lesser population density in the hurricane-devastated areas plus relative better quality of the dwelling structures compared to those that were there in the Chittagong coastline of Bangladesh about three decades ago.
The Bangladesh experience suggests that those undertaking relief and rehabilitation activities should believe the hurricane affected people of Bahamas. After such a cataclysmic hurricane, literally nothing is left for the continued susvival of those who have reamined alive. There is no food to take, no water to drink and no shelter to have rest or sleep. The Hurricane affected people should be helped to start live anew.
