VZCZCXRO0459
PP RUEHCI
DE RUEHKA #1933/01 3470406
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 130406Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5802
INFO RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 9446
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 0446
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 8332
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 1077
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0627
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0080
RUEKDIA/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHHMUNA/USCINCPAC HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASH DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 001933 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DCHA/OFDA FOR ROBERT THAYER 
AID/W FOR AA MARK WARD AND ANE ANNE DIX 
DEPT PASS TO SCA/EX 
DEPT PASS TO SCA/PB 
DCHA/FPP 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 SOCI PINR PREL BG
SUBJECT: Trip Report- from Barisal through SidrQs destruction to 
Khulna 
 
REF: DHAKA 1921 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Three weeks after cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh, 
the response has transitioned from the critical first phase, which 
included U.S. military aircraft assisting in relief supply movement, 
to the second phase, which will be more centered on longer-term 
rebuilding and economic rehabilitation.  After ensuring all U.S. 
military personnel safely departed from Barisal after the Civil 
Military Operations Center there closed, Emboff and FSNs traveled 
west to Khulna, detouring through some of the worst hit areas to 
gain first hand information.  Confirming previous assessments, 
Emboff saw that brick/concrete structures, including cyclone 
shelters, had mostly survived; while at seemingly randomly dispersed 
location, corrugated iron sheet structures sustained damage ranging 
from minor to total destruction.  Aid was evident in many areas, as 
well as medical care.  Fresh water supply was not considered a 
problem in the short term, but sanitation and long term solutions 
will require substantial rebuilding.  Shops and markets had goods on 
their shelves, but many interlocutors from both GOB and aid 
communities expressed fear that unless the economy is restarted 
soon, a Qrelief mindsetQ will arise where standing in line replaces 
daily labor as the primary method of supplying individualQs and 
familiesQ needs.  END SUMMARY 
 
Leg 1 - Barisal city to Pirojpur (western edge of Barisal division) 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Traveling mostly west-southwest, we began by tracing the 
northern edge of the most severely effected areas.  Some damage was 
evident at seemingly random intervals, with certain areas losing 
many large trees and almost all corrugated iron sheet dwellings, 
while other areas nearby had much less visible damage.   At the 
Kaukhali ferry crossing immediately east of Pirojpur, one of the 
ferries (capable of handling an estimated 10 or 12 vehicles, plus 
pedestrians and bicycles) was beached at least 100 feet from the 
river.   The locals we talked to said that the river rose to 20 feet 
above normal, but the shops food shops concentrated at the ferry 
landing are in concrete buildings and were not substantially 
damaged; they had, however, received government aid.   Fishing is 
the main activity in the area, and there were some small boats 
visible fishing out on the river when we crossed at 0800.  Fishing 
nets were seen in several locations strung across canals, a good 
sign that some economic activity is returning to the area. 
 
¶3. (SBU) We crossed with various other aid agency representatives on 
the same ferry, including "Hands On Disaster Relief," a U.S. based 
NGO.  Its survey team was coming from Kuakata, on the extreme 
southern coast of Barisal division, and the team reported that the 
embankment there had sustained substantial damage.   Crossing the 
river, there was more obvious damage immediately beside the riverQs 
west bank, but shortly the damage returned to the same pattern of 
patches of serious damage interspersed among patches of little to no 
apparent damage. 
 
Leg 2 Q Pirojpur to Morelganj (heading south into the most affected 
areas) 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) We began to see more aquaculture farms, such as shrimp 
hatcheries, as well as regular rice paddies, as we turned south. 
When we reached Boloi Bunia Union on the northern edge of Morelganj 
upazila, we saw a CARE water purification unit in 
operation.  According the CARE employee responsible for the unit, it 
was delivered the day after the storm and is capable of producing 
4,000 liters of water per hour.  We also met Union Parishad Chairman 
Abdul Haim, believed by all in the village to be the oldest chairman 
in Bangladesh at 80 years old.   He was personally overseeing 
distribution of lime for water treatment and tickets for other 
relief materials.  He reported that residents are in relatively good 
shape, with good NGO activity in the area and the GOB's Vulnerable 
 
DHAKA 00001933  002 OF 003 
 
 
Group Feeding (VGF) program coming online shortly.  Soldiers from 
the Bangladesh Army's 55th Division were also present at a nearby 
location. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Continuing south into Morelganj, we met representatives 
from the GOB's Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) at the 
ferry crossing to Morelganj city.  They confirmed that the water 
treatment plans supplied by DPHE, CARE, Save the Children, Muslim 
Aid, and the Bangladeshi military have alleviated the short term 
drinking water problem, but the DPHEQs Pond Sand Filter (PSF) 
systems need substantial rebuilding and new tube wells will need to 
be drilled.   In terms of sanitation, they were very sad to report 
that only six months ago this had been a showcase of sanitation, 
with 100% of the district certified as covered by sanitary 
facilities; now 80% of those are damaged. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Across the river, in Morelganj city, we visited a 
Bangladesh Army medical center and landing site of multiple U.S. 
military helicopter relief missions.  Major Nasir commands the 10th 
Field Ambulance in the 66th Division, deployed from its usual post 
in Rajshahi to Morelganj for cyclone response.  The medical team 
there still sees injuries, fractures and traumas resulting from the 
cyclone, but as expected, these are decreasing and regular chronic 
complaints are replacing direct cyclone injuries.   Major Nasir 
showed a well- stocked facility and said he was receiving good GOB 
support, but noted a need for vitamins and injectable antibiotics. 
He also complained that Sharankhola upazila to the south had half 
the population of Morelganj, and while it suffered more destruction, 
the number of people affected also should be taken into account when 
allocating relief. 
 
Leg 3 Q Morelganj to Sharankhola (furthest south, maximum 
destruction) 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) Proceeding through the mostly rural area south of Morelganj 
city, for the first time we saw a brick building partially 
destroyed.   The building had been part of a private 'college' 
providing elementary and vocational education to 1,100 students. 
Approximately 1,500 square feet of what had been corrugated iron 
buildings were simply gone, leaving only the foundation slab 
behind.   The school, on its own initiative, has rigged tents and is 
continuing classes and even end of year examinations.  The man I 
spoke with claimed they have not yet received any GOB aid, either at 
the school or at his home, which was also destroyed, beyond a 
promise to repair educational institutions.   He seemed to be in a 
mild state of shock, sitting in what had been the administration 
building and far less animated in his speech that ordinary 
Bangladeshis. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) As we continued south, we started seeing more of the GOBQs 
elevated cyclone shelters, which seemed to have all sustained only 
minimal damage.   The roads here had a great deal of traffic, 
including trucks, various aid agency vehicles, and buses filled with 
people; we also passed many trucks filled with goods heading north 
as well as south, presumably indicating that some commerce was still 
continuing from this area. 
 
Leg 4 Q Sharankhola (southernmost point of our trip) 
------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) We arrived in Sharankhola as Bangladeshi soldiers and a 
member of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society worked together to 
unload boxes of World Food Program aid that had been transported by 
truck from Barisal airport.  The boxes were stored, along with other 
relief materials, in a complex of buildings which had attracted a 
large crowd waiting for relief goods, even though this was only the 
storage facility, not an actual distribution site.  Proceeding 
around the corner from the complex, the contrast was shocking as we 
walked into a regular bazaar in full swing, with produce and other 
 
DHAKA 00001933  003 OF 003 
 
 
merchandise readily available and shoppers making purchases. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Major Shaheen, the officer of the 55th Division 
responsible for that area, agreed that the first phase of the 
response to Sidr had been completed and the initial shock largely 
had been mitigated.  The second phase was now keyed on continuing 
relief only to the absolutely distraught, while providing the means 
(and encouragement) to the rest of the population to get back to 
work.   He echoed the sentiment heard from other quarters (Ref A), 
and visibly demonstrated for us as we walked from the mass waiting 
for handouts to the busy bazaar, that there were people who were 
focusing on standing in line for aid instead of working for wages. 
The solution, as Major Shaheen saw it, is for income production to 
restart quickly to prevent a 'handout culture' from taking hold. 
The major said he was coordinating well with various NGOs, 
particularly the Red Crescent, BRAC, Rupantor (which receives 
funding from USAID and has one of its local citizen committees 
active in a nearby Union Parishad) Oxfam, Grameen, Muslim Aid, 
Shelter Box (a UK NGO) and others. 
 
Leg 5 Q Sharankhola to Khulna 
------------------------------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) Returning from Sharankhola to the main east-west road, we 
spoke with a response team from the Far-east Islamic Insurance 
Company, Limited.  Team members said they insured about 1,000 people 
in Sharankhola and that around half had sustained insured losses to 
varying degrees.  Roads were adequate in all the areas we visited, 
partly due to removal of felled trees, evident as far as the western 
edge of Bagerhat district, which has been ongoing since Sidr.  We 
continued to see a wide variety of aid related crews, including both 
Islamic and secular agencies, as well as various media 
representatives, including an American independent film crew, 
throughout the region, even as far west as Khulna. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) In the aftermath of Cyclone Sidr, it appears that the GOB 
and NGO response has met, by and large, the short-term, emergency 
needs of most people.  The medium- and long-term needs, rebuilding 
the economy and returning people to normal lives, is just beginning. 
 The success of the cyclone shelters is likely to drive demands for 
even more to be built, and for those new shelters to be capable of 
protecting livestock as well as people.  Donor synchronization, at 
all levels, is still very much a key requirement.  There are many 
actors present in the field whose actions have the potential to 
duplicate and interfere with each other if left un-coordinated. 
 
PASI