VZCZCXRO6725
OO RUEHCI
DE RUEHKA #1860/01 3311316
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271316Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5674
INFO RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 9394
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1032
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0321
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 2612
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 8188
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 8278
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1917
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0413
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0594
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0044
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 001860 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SES-O 
DEPT FOR SCA/PB, SCA/EX 
DCHA/OFDA FOR ROBERT THAYER 
AID/W FOR AA MARK WARD AND ANE ANNE DIX 
DCHA/FFP FOR MATTHEW NIMS AND PAUL NOVICK 
ROME FOR FODAG 
BANGKOK FOR RDM/A TOM DOLAN, ROB BARTON 
KATHMANDU FOR USAID OFDA BILL BERGER AND SUE MCINTYRE 
TREASURY FOR ELIZABETH WEISS AND SUSAN CHUN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PREL ASEC CASC AMGT SOCI ECON PINR EAGR SENV
BG 
 
SUBJECT:  USAID/OFDA Cyclone Sidr Situation Report #6:  Summary of 
Initial Sector Cluster Meetings in Dhaka 
 
REF: (A) DHAKA 1835; (B) DHAKA 1838 
 
¶1. Summary.  The impact of Tropical Cyclone Sidr in southern 
Bangladesh has led to 3,243 deaths, affected more than 7 million 
people, and damaged more than 1.2 million homes, according to the 
Government of Bangladesh's (GOB) Disaster Management Bureau and the 
U.N. World Food Program (WFP) as of November 26.  Members of USAID's 
Disaster Assistance Response Team (USAID/DART), along with 
USAID/Bangladesh, the U.S. military, other donors, and 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are attending sector cluster 
meetings in Dhaka to discuss humanitarian priorities, engage with 
GOB officials, coordinate response mechanisms, and share information 
on relief activities and field assessments.  Representatives of the 
U.S. Government will continue to attend cluster meetings in the 
coming days.  Along with information gathered from field 
assessments, the USAID/DART will draw on information shared at 
cluster meetings to identify priority needs as well as gaps in 
humanitarian assistance where USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign 
Disaster Assistance could provide additional support.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
USAID/DART AND USAID/BANGLADESH ATTEND SECTOR CLUSTER MEETINGS 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶2. On November 25, the USAID/DART and USAID/Bangladesh attended the 
first food cluster meeting, which was chaired by WFP.  Although GOB 
officials were absent, this meeting served as an opportunity for 
international donors and operational partners to discuss the food 
security situation and coordinate relief efforts.  To address the 
food needs of affected populations, the GOB will expand its existing 
vulnerable group feeding (VGF) program to target an estimated 2.6 
million households in 30 districts.  Through the VGF program, the 
GOB will distribute 15 kilograms of rice per month to affected 
households.  The GOB may expand the number of households under the 
VGF program.  At the cluster meeting, WFP announced its emergency 
operation targeting 2.2 million beneficiaries in Barisal, Bhola, 
Patuakhali, Barguna, Jhalakati, Pirojpur, Bagerhat, Khulna, and 
Satkhira districts, as per reftel (A).  In addition, the U.N. Food 
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will commence a comprehensive 
food and livelihoods assessment on December 3 to determine the 
impact of the cyclone on agricultural production, fisheries, and 
forestry.  Furthermore, FAO plans to provide comprehensive 
recommendation for livelihoods assistance and recovery. 
 
¶3. On November 25, USAID/Bangladesh attended the water, sanitation, 
and hygiene cluster meeting, chaired by the U.N. Children's Fund 
(UNICEF).  The GOB's Department of Public Health Engineering is 
coordinating government response to water, sanitation, and hygiene 
needs arising from Cyclone Sidr.  Participants discussed various 
measures to meet immediate and long-term water, sanitation, and 
hygiene needs of affected populations, including chlorination of 
existing wells, cleaning of open water sources, hygiene promotion, 
provision of water treatment tablets to affected households, and 
rehabilitation of sanitation infrastructure destroyed by the 
cyclone.  While UNICEF highlighted that water needs and appropriate 
responses vary from locality to locality, coordination efforts are 
integral in gathering information and identifying prevalent gaps. 
 
¶4. As per reftel (B), the USAID/DART and USAID/Bangladesh attended 
the first health cluster meeting on November 25, where the U.N. 
World Health Organization, the GOB, and NGOs did not report 
 
DHAKA 00001860  002 OF 002 
 
 
significant gaps in health services.  The USAID/DART also discussed 
the current health situation with Mdecins Sans Frontihres (MSF), 
which is conducting assessments of affected areas in Bhada, Bhola, 
and Barguna districts.  MSF has observed no significant emergency 
health needs in these areas, but will continue to monitor 
conditions.  To date, MSF has distributed 5,000 hygiene kits to 
mitigate the adverse impact of the cyclone on public health. 
 
¶5. The International Federation of the Red Cross is leading the 
emergency shelter cluster.  The first meeting took place on November 
25 and the next one will occur on November 28.  Currently, the 
cluster is developing a low-cost shelter design intended to 
standardize shelter interventions throughout cyclone-affected areas. 
 The cluster expects to finalize this design within the next 10 
days, drawing on the most up to date information from ongoing field 
assessments. 
 
¶6. On November 26, the USAID/DART, USAID/Bangladesh, and U.S. Marine 
logistics attended the first meeting of the interagency Logistics 
Response Team (LRT), chaired by WFP.  The LRT is in essence 
functioning as the logistics cluster, as a full cluster has not been 
activated at present.  Overall, partners reported that no apparent 
logistical constraints or significant gaps exist at this time.  This 
account might be attributed in part to the success of previous and 
ongoing USAID programs in disaster preparedness and mitigation. 
However, humanitarian organizations face challenges in finding 
sufficient warehouse space both in Dhaka and cyclone-affected areas 
in the south.  WFP is transporting approximately 20 metric tons of 
high energy biscuits to affected areas using Bangladesh military 
helicopters.  No GOB representatives, either from the military or 
the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, were present at this 
meeting.  As a result, this meeting did not address the status of 
government efforts to transport GOB relief commodities. 
 
¶7. On November 26, the USAID/DART and USAID/Bangladesh attended an 
information management and coordination meeting, chaired by WFP. 
The head of the GOB's Comprehensive Disaster Management Program 
outlined how the government obtains information and posts daily 
situation reports on its public website, located at www.cdmp.org.bd. 
 In addition, participants discussed how to design user-friendly 
websites that could improve information dissemination among the 
various humanitarian responders.  To enhance information management 
and coordination during the Cyclone Sidr response, a sub-group of 
technical specialists will work to further refine the current 
websites. 
 
 
PASI