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Save the Children Deploys Staff to Bangladesh Coast as Super Cyclone Strikes Country
Westport, Conn. (November 15, 2007) — As a major cyclone bears down on Bangladesh, Save the Children is preparing for an impending emergency and working to assist communities prepare for the storm and its aftermath.
Save the Children is one of few humanitarian agencies with emergency responders already positioned in the path of the storm, a remote and low-lying area still recovering from extreme flooding last summer.
Currently a Category 4 storm, Super Cyclone Sidr is dumping rain along the coast of Bangladesh. Save the Children staff report that power is out in the Sundarbans and parts of Khulna and Barisal.
Authorities are expecting the wind, rain and flooding to have a severe impact on the some 3 million people who live in its path. Save the Children is assisting in a large-scale evacuation of vulnerable children and families.
"Save the Children is hoping for the best, but preparing for a worst-case scenario," said Ned Olney, Save the Children's associate vice president for global emergencies. "We have already deployed staff and equipment, including rescue boats, to the impact area, and are mobilizing food and water-purification resources. Save the Children will be in position to help with relief efforts immediately after the cyclone passes."
In the days leading up to the storm, Save the Children and the government of Bangladesh activated emergency response committees, coordinating with local and national emergency entities on a response. The agency also is coordinating with UN agencies to mobilize food and other resources.
Save the Children has been working in the projected disaster zone for three years and in Bangladesh since 1972. The agency, which implements disaster risk-reduction programs in addition to conducting emergency relief efforts around the world and in the United States, also provided lifesaving relief and assisted with recovery efforts after floods left nearly two-thirds of the country under water in June and July.
