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Cyclone Aila hits Bangladesh - Source: Reuters -
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Nearly 120 people have been killed by a cyclone that ripped
through Bangladesh and eastern India, officials and local media
said on Tuesday, while millions remained marooned by floodwaters or
living in shelters.
The death toll in Bangladesh rose to at least 89 following recovery
of more bodies on Tuesday, the Daily Star newspaper said in its
online edition, while Indian officials said at least 29 people had
died in West Bengal state.
Cyclone Aila slammed into parts of coastal Bangladesh and eastern
India on Monday, triggering tidal surges and flooding that forced
half a million people from their homes.
Officials in Bangladesh moved about 500,000 people to temporary
shelters after they left their homes to escape huge tidal waves
churned by winds up to 100 kph.
Heavy rain triggered by the storm also raised river levels and
burst mud embankments in the Sundarbans delta in the neighbouring
eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
The affected area is home to hundreds of thousands of people as
well as the world's biggest tiger reserve.
In Bangladesh, the worst affected area was the Satkhira district,
near the port of Mongla, where a local official said 17 bodies were
found in one village.
"The situation here is alarming, and the confirmed death toll so
far in the district is 23. But it may go up," Mohammad Abdus Samad,
deputy commissioner of Satkhira, said.
Aila swept many areas still recovering from Cyclone Sidr in
November 2007, which killed 3,500 people in Bangladesh and made at
least a million homeless.
Missing
Bangladesh officials said at least 100 people were missing after
Monday's cyclone.
Some aid workers, requesting not to be identified, said they feared
several hundred people might have been killed by Aila, which
followed a less lethal cyclone, Bijli, that killed only a few
people in April.
Army, navy and coast guards were helping civil officials and
volunteers to search for the missing and pick up people marooned in
hundreds of villages, caught in chest or shoulder-high waters,
witnesses said.
In West Bengal, the Indian army and government aid workers on
Tuesday began an operation to provide relief to more than 400,000
people marooned in the Sundarbans delta region.
Officials in West Bengal said at least 29 people died in the
cyclone, mostly from house collapses, electrocution and falling
trees.
"We have moved two columns, each with 100 personnel, to Sundarbans
for relief," said Mahesh Upasani, a defence spokesman.
Large areas of crops were destroyed in both countries by the
cyclone, officials said, adding they were assessing the
damage.
Cargo handling at Paradeep port in India's eastern state of Orissa
returned to normal after being severely affected for the past two
days, K.Raghuramaiah, chairman of Paradeep Port Trust, said.
Many farmers have lost their rice just ready to be harvested.
"Allah has taken it (rice and other crops) all from me. I have been
made a pauper," said Mohar Ali, a farmer.
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