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,