On Thursday, November 15, 2007, the powerful cyclone Sidr struck
southern Bangladesh. The storm, which also triggered a 20-foot tidal
wave, swept away entire coastal villages as it made its way inland,
destroying crops, homes, businesses and taking thousands of lives.
Located in Southeast Asia, surrounded by India and sharing a small
border with Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh has a coastline that
resembles a comb more than a “line,” making it extremely vulnerable
to storms coming up through the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
According to Assemblies of God world missionaries to Bangladesh,
Larry and Sharon Smith, reports coming from the area have the
official death toll at more than 3,400 (and expected to climb as
high as 10,000) with an additional 360,000 left homeless.
At least 18 Assemblies of God churches were damaged by the storm,
Larry Smith reports. However, news is slow to come in as
communication systems and roads have experienced heavy damage.
“This is a part of the world where many make only about $1 a day,”
says AGWM Communications Director Randy Hurst. “When disaster
strikes, people have nothing to fall back on and no way to recover
from their losses."
Missionary Duane Danielsen, who is coordinating AG relief efforts in
Bangladesh, explains that Bangladesh is only a few feet above sea
level and has literally hundreds of rivers that have flooded — but
there's no "higher ground" to escape to.
The United Nations has stated that the cyclone has affected more
than 6.7 million people in 30 of the country's 64 districts. The
agricultural sector struck by the cyclone is considered
“devastated.”
However, AG World Missions has already advanced relief funds
into the hard-hit areas, sending funds through AG personnel
in the field and the Assemblies of God churches in the region.
“The greatest immediate need is money to be transferred to the field
to purchase food and water for people,” says Hurst. “This is 'Phase
One' of our relief efforts, where every dollar can provide urgently
needed help for cyclone victims. Later on, there will be additional
efforts. Convoy of Hope and rebuilding efforts may be done
through AGWM MAPS Construction teams. We have 261
AG churches in Bangladesh.”
Smith agrees, stating that with a great portion of the December
harvest now lost, food will be scarce in the days to come and the
need will be great.
Drinking water will also be a valued commodity as salt water along
with hundreds of thousands of dead animals — victims of Cyclone Sidr
— are contaminating water supplies.
In addition to financial assistance, AG Relief funds are enabling
AGWM’s HealthCare Ministries to send a medical team to Bangladesh,
and Convoy of Hope is sending an assessment representative to determine
what resources should be shipped to the area.
"It has been hard for me to process it all … the suffering of people on such a large scale," Danielsen says. "However, this week using funds sent by AG Relief nearly 3,000 families will be given a relief packet of food in 24 affected villages."
However, Danielsen says additional funds to assist in meeting the
basic essentials of life are desperately needed—and may be for an
extended period of time.
“We’ve established an AG Relief account for this disaster,” Hurst says. “It is ‘AG Relief Bangladesh Cyclone 8632408 (46).’ To make a tax-deductible donation, just go to the AG Relief Web site donation page”
For those preferring to mail their donations, please send a check with “Bangladesh Cyclone” in the memo line to:
