Bangladesh is in need of external assistance to tackle the devastation caused by a cyclone that triggered a water surge in 12 coastal districts last week, dpa cited a senior government official as saying today. "Foreign aid is now essential to deal with the huge losses incurred by the coastal communities who are unprotected from the salty water of the Bay of Bengal," Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzak told reporters after an inter-ministerial meeting to assess the loss. Cyclone "Aila" claimed up to 179 lives, made tens of thousands homeless and has left an outbreak of waterborne diseases across the coastal belt in its wake. "The government does not want to go begging but will welcome any foreign aid," Razzak added, urging local political parties and civil society to come forward to help those affected. "We're yet to calculate how much money will be needed to rehabilitate the distressed people who are badly affected by the cyclone," he said. An initial assessment put the number of people affected at 3,606,116 people in 12 southern districts. The cyclone washed away homes, embankments and other infrastructure and crops over a vast area. The lack of drinking water had led to the spread of waterborne diseases in the cyclone-hit areas. Rescue teams had yet to reach many of the areas hit by the cyclone that made landfall last Monday.
