November 24, 2007	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 13, 1428

DHAKA, Nov 23: The plight of survivors was causing increasing concern as relief workers struggled on Friday to ferry in aid more than a week after Bangladesh’s killer cyclone Sidr struck.

A huge military-led aid effort was under way but officials said logistical problems meant only small amounts of relief were getting through and the pace was slow.

UN resident coordinator Renata Lok Dessallien said the army believed most victims had now received some aid.

“It is not enough necessarily for everyone but at least they have the first batch and the next batch will be close behind. Every day it has been growing steadily,” she said.More than 3,400 people are confirmed dead after the powerful storm ripped through southern and central districts on November 15. Thousands more are missing feared dead and an estimated 280,000 without shelter.

A US navy ship arrived in Bangladesh waters on Friday to assist with the relief operation, a US embassy spokesman said.

The USS Kearsarge was anchored about 50 kilometres off the southern Bangladesh coast in the Bay of Bengal and another ship — the USS Essex — was to arrive within days.

Navy personnel were carrying out an assessment of the situation, with operations likely to include medical evacuations and air drops of water due to begin on Saturday, the spokesman added.

Villagers said that they were enduring desperate conditions.

“The only thing we have been given in all the days since the cyclone is two kilograms of rice and 60 taka (less than a dollar) from the local government officials and we have no food and no drinking water,” said Mohammad Dulal, 30, from Garjonbunia village, which lies close to the coast.

The entire village had been washed away by the tidal surge and he and his wife and young son were living on the roadside in a shack made from tree branches and plastic that he scavenged.

UN coordinator Dessallien said the lack of fresh drinking water was fuelling fears of an epidemic of water-borne diseases.—AFP