DACCA: Two and a half lakh persons are feared, according to unofficial estimates, to have perished in the death-dealing cyclone which raged unbridled over the southern areas of East Pakistan for several hours on Thursday [Nov 12] night leaving behind a trail of death and destruction unprecedented in living memory of an area where hurricanes are almost an annual affair.

A vast area, comprising many districts, lies in shambles, with the stench of death everywhere as thousands of dead human beings and cattle await disposal. Communication with most of the devastated areas is at its best difficult. …

A section of local newspapers have reported that several thousand more corpses — most of them in a state of decomposition being eaten by birds and beasts — are awaiting burial for want of cloth for shrouds. District authorities in Noakhali were yesterday [Nov 14] frantically trying to find cloth.... Transports were rushed to adjoining districts and 509 sent to Dacca for cloth.

Reports from some of the worst-affected areas quoting eye-witness accounts say that these places have been reduced to shambles with no sign of life as places where the silence of grave prevails.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2020