UN humanitarian chief says millions in aid available to Bangladesh after cyclone

The U.N.'s humanitarian chief on Friday said the world body has made several millions of dollars available for aid to Bangladesh, where a cyclone has killed at least 1,100 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said damage to livelihood, housing and crops from Tropical Cyclone Sidr, which stuck Bangladesh's southwestern coast late Thursday, will be "extremely severe."

Government estimates placed the death toll at 242, but a local news agency said its independent tally counted at least 1,100 dead. The figures are preliminary because of difficulty in reaching the worst-hit areas where power and telephone lines are down.

Holmes, who heads the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and is the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, said his agency believes that more than 20,000 houses have been damaged in the worst affected districts, and that the death toll is expected to climb beyond the government's figures.

"We have made clear already that we are ready to make available several million dollars from the Central Emergency Response Fund," Holmes told reporters while declining to specify an amount.

In the wake of the storm, the U.N. World Food Program was sending rations for up to 400,000 people badly affected by the cyclone, Holmes said.

He said about 150 fishing trawlers were unaccounted for and an undetermined number of fishermen were missing as the cyclone, packing winds of up to 240 kph (150 mph), churned waves as high as 5 meters (15 feet).

"The entire country ... was affected," said Holmes, adding that the storm surge inundated three coastal towns with a combined population of more than 700,000.

The U.N. and others had tracked the cyclone before it made land and "there was a lot of preparedness," including 116 medical teams that were deployed in advance, said Holmes. He said 3.2 million people were evacuated by the government and other rescue teams, and that these efforts "did contribute to saving lives when the cyclone hit."

Holmes said his agency expresses its "solidarity with the people affected, and we will do all we can to help subject to what the government of Bangladesh would like us to do."

Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation, is prone to seasonal cyclones and floods that cause huge losses of life and property.