New storm lashes Bangladesh

New storm lashes Bangladesh

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuter): A storm lashed coastal
Bangladesh yesterday, hampering disaster relief efforts just days
after a cyclone killed at least 105 people and made more than one
million homeless, officials said.

Strong winds and heavy rain blasted Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar
resort and nearby islands in a lower-key rerun of Monday's
disaster.

Unofficial sources put the feared death toll from the cyclone
at nearly 1,000 with hundreds of fishermen still missing in the
Bay of Bengal. Sources also reported some deaths from diarrhea,
which was spreading among those left homeless.

Officials said yesterday's 75 kilometer-per-hour storm swept
areas still recovering from the cyclone, dumping nearly 80 mm of
rain on and around Cox's Bazar and adding to the miseries of
thousands of families sleeping outside.

The high winds blew away many houses which were being rebuilt
following Monday's storm, they said.

Nearly 150 fishermen missing at sea for four days returned to
their island homes Thursday night, but the fate of 600 others was
still not known, fishing community leaders said.

"We only hope they all would come back," said Kabir Ahmed,
leader of Mechanized Fishing Boats Association in Cox's Bazar.

Residents of Cox's Bazar and islanders told reporters that the
most affected areas had been without relief supplies till
Thursday and that electricity was still out.

The state-run Dainik Bangla newspaper said yesterday that 14
people had died as diarrhea spread in cyclone-battered areas.

Health officials in Chittagong declined to confirm the deaths
but said around 400 medical teams had been deployed in coastal
areas to try to prevent disease.

"After giving first aid to cyclone victims they are now mainly
working against disease," said Dr. Mazharul Islam, deputy civil
surgeon of Chittagong.

Unofficial sources said yesterday that about 10,000 people had
contracted diarrhea and at least 15 had died. Hospitals in
Chittagong and Cox's Bazar had received about 1,000 patients
suffering from diarrhea since Monday, doctors told reporters.

"Scattered incidents of diarrhoeal attack are very common in
many areas during this time of the year," one Chittagong hill
official said.

"People are not very health conscious and they sometimes drink
water from derelict sources and eat rubbish (which cause the
disease)," he said.

Jawadul Karim, press secretary to Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina, told reporters Thursday that 105 people had so far been
confirmed dead after the cyclone,