Cyclone Sidr

Cyclone Sidr destroyed large areas in southern Bangladesh last Thursday. The death toll stands near 3,000 and is very likely to rise. Hundreds of thousands have lost their homes, and overall, about 3.2 million people are affected.

Alliance2015 is now taking advantage of its large infrastructure (together, the six Alliance members are active in 81 countries), with the Irish member Concern taking a leading role in Bangladesh. Concern has been working in Bangladesh for many years and had already developed a disaster management project together with six local NGOs in districts prone to flooding.

Welthungerhilfe, who had cooperated with Concern earlier this year during the severe flooding in India and Bangladesh, will channel their funding through Concern and will not implement any projects of their own. People in Need will also provide and raise funds to support Concern's programme in Bangladesh.

With its severity and quickly rising death toll, Cyclone Sidr ranks among the most disastrous storms in the history of the country. In 1991, a cyclone killed more than 130,000 people, in 1970, there were nearly 500,000 storm-related deaths. A glimpse of hope is the early warning system that is in place and saved many people's lives. The local government, along with the Red Cross, Red Crescent and NGOs such as Concern issued community warnings and evacuated people from vulnerable areas before the storm hit the coasts.

More information on the work of Concern in Bangladesh: www.concern.net