Bangladesh cyclone survivors greet US relief aid as government appeals for rice donations

Survivors of a cyclone that devastated the southwestern Bangladesh coast greeted U.S. Navy teams Tuesday as they delivered clean water, food and medical supplies to thousands of people left hungry and homeless.

Helicopters from the USS Kearsarge, a multipurpose U.S. ship anchored off the Bangladesh coast, have been airlifting water containers to remote areas of the country's worst-affected districts of Dublar Char, Bagherat and Barguna, said Bangladesh Chief of Army Staff Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed.

"They have come all the way from a distant country to help us. It is a blessing from Allah," said Abdus Shahid, a 50-year-old farmer in Barguna district, one of the hardest-hit area.

"They are bringing us water and food. That is what we now need most," said Shahid, who lost two children in the Nov. 15 cyclone.

The official death toll from the cyclone, which hit Bangladesh Nov. 15, has hit 3,243, another 1,180 are missing, and 34,500 people were injured, according to the government's Food and Disaster Management Ministry.

Rear Adm. Carol Pottenger, the commander of USS Kearsarge, said teams are working in cooperation with Bangladeshi authorities. Clean water, medicines and food remain the most priority need for the desperate survivors, she said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday.

In coming days, personnel from the Kearsage will also set up water purification plants and provide medical care to cyclone victims.

"We will fill the requirements as identified by the Bangladesh military," said U.S. Brig. Gen. Ronald L. Bailey, who is coordinating the relief operation.

The Kearsage's helicopter fleet will also help airlift 160 tons of relief goods from Bangladesh government supplies.

Also Tuesday, the Bangladesh government asked foreign donors for 500,000 tons of rice aid to prevent possible food shortages, after Cyclone Sidr damaged vast areas of paddy.

Tapan Chowdhury, the government's adviser on food and disaster management, said the country needed immediate assistance of 500,000 tons of rice "to maintain a minimum stockpile of 1 million tons as food security."

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On the net: http://dhaka.usembassy.gov/cyclone_sidr.html