The government said 2,300 people were killed by Cyclone Sidr, especially in the south of Bangladesh, but the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society warned the real death toll could reach 10,000 after more victims are discovered in hard-to-reach areas.
It meant another blow for impoverished minority Christians, who rights groups say already faith persecution for their faith in parts of this predominantly Muslim nation.
"In one district, more than 100 homes" of churches related to mission group Gospel for Asia (GFA) have been destroyed by the Category 4 storm–the most destructive to hit Bangladesh in a decade," GFA President K.P. Yohannan told BosNewsLife.
NATIVE MISSIONARIES
He said GFA’s native missionaries along with pastors and volunteers are struggling to reach Christians in the devastated area, amid fears that many fellow believers have been killed.
"Many people are thought to have been killed when trees fell on their houses," said one GFA observer, who was not identified apparently because of security concerns in a country where Islamic extremism is rising. Christians comprise less than one percent of the country’s population of 150 million people, according to estimates by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
In a message to supporters, GFA, with website www.gfa.org , said it had asked churches around the world to remember both those who suffer "and those who are working around the clock to bring relief in Christ’s name to the victims."
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI called for "every possible effort" to help the victims of the Bangladesh cyclone and he offered prayers for the dead. Bangladesh has deployed military ships and helicopters to help the relief efforts.
MILITARY SHIPS
US military ships also are heading to Bangladesh to assist in relief operations, the Voice of America (VOA) network reported. Washington said it has provided over two million dollars in initial aid and is airlifting plastic sheeting, hygiene kits and other supplies for survivors.
President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, offered condolences to the victims of the storm. The United Nations’ humanitarian chief said Friday the UN has made several million dollars in emergency aid available to Bangladesh, while the World Food Program announced it is sending rations for up to 400,000 people affected by the storm.
Storms batter Bangladesh every year, killing hundreds of people. A cyclone that hit the country in 1970 killed about half a million people, while another in 1991 killed over 130,000.
The pope said it was crucial for the world not to forget Bangladesh. "I appeal for international solidarity, which has already moved to assist with immediate necessities. I ask that every possible effort be made to succor these sorely tried brothers," he said. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and reporting from Bangladesh).
