Should we help Bangladesh?

THE CYCLONE which recently struck impoverished Southasian nation Bangladesh leaves little space for its citizens to take a breather from misery and poverty.

Cyclone Sidr, which hit Bangladesh's southern coastline November 15, brought with it winds of up to 240 km/h and a six-metre tidal surge that killed 3,500 people, left thousands missing or injured, and displaced some two million people. Leaving behind, an extensive trail of destruction in its wake, which the United Nations compared the disaster to a "mini-tsunami".

The cyclone, Bangladesh's worst in over a decade, swept away entire villages and destroyed most of the nation's crops, leaving some two million in dire need of food, medical supplies, shelter and water. In many coastal areas, villagers' water supplies have been contaminated by saline water and dead animals.

Close to Brunei's population, 350,000 cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats are estimated to have been lost, said the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Every year, thousands are killed in Bangladesh in floods or storms. Not surprisingly, those most at risk are the poor, whose dwellings are the least substantial and often located in the most vulnerable areas. These people account for 40 per cent of the population who live on less than a dollar a day.

In a show of humanitarian support, the international community speedily responded to the Bangladesh government's international plea for assistance for cyclone victims and post-cyclone rehabilitation with a reported $470 million pledge.

However, emergency workers are still struggling to get immediate aid to the worst-affected areas, with relief efforts only stepped up to a higher gear yesterday after days of logistical hurdles. Relief workers encountered massive problems in reaching many victims due to roads that have been washed away or blocked by fallen trees. The head of the Bangladeshi branch of British charity Oxfam said their top priority "is to clean up the carcasses and debris from the ponds so that villagers can get easy access to drinking water."

The United States has responded by pledging US$2 million and sent two Essex-class aircraft carriers, the USS Kearsage and the USS Essex, to deliver food and medical supplies. The United Nations allocated US$15 million in emergency response funds, much of which will go into providing fresh water.

The World Bank has pledged US$250 million. Other Western nations have also contributed to the relief effort, along with humanitarian aid from India, China and Japan. Saudi Arabia has promised US$100 million.

From Asean countries, the Philippines said it would send a medical team and Thailand will be dispatching relief supplies using a C-130 aircraft today. Malaysia's non-governmental humanitarian aid organisation, Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) has already started a donation drive to help Bangladeshi cyclone victims.

In a country where serious natural disasters are virtually unheard of — with only the seasonal haze resulting from forest fires occasionally irking the comfortable lives of its people — oil-rich Brunei has generously provided numerous humanitarian aid to other countries in the past.

The Ministry of Defence deployed a humanitarian team to assist in relief efforts in the wake of the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia. Altogether, the sultanate pledged $6 million for long-term recovery and rehabilitation for all the countries affected by the tsunami. Last year, when a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Central Java and Yogyakarta which left 40,000 injured and 150,000 displaced, the defence and health ministries sent a nine-member humanitarian aid team to help in relief efforts. Bosnia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are among the countries that have also previously received aid from the sultanate.

Currently, an international monitoring team is deployed for peacekeeping efforts in Mindanao. But aside from this, one wonders: What is Brunei doing to help Bangladesh overcome their hour of need?

The Brunei Times