Environment

Cyclone Aila displaces millions, kills 210 in India

by Amy Judd | May 27, 2009 at 01:38 pm

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Cyclone Aila has caused widespread damage across India and Bangladesh, displacing millions of people and killing at least 210. Only some people have access to food and drinking water who have lost their homes due to lack of resources.

The death toll could still rise as rescuers are still struggling to reach marooned people.

Cyclone Aila hit parts of India and Bangladesh on Monday, and aside from the people displacement, an area of West Bengal holds one of the world's biggest tiger reserves and that is already threatened by global warming.

Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed in the Sundarbans delta, when heavy rain raised river levels and burst mud embankments; over 28 percent of this area has already been lost over the last 40 years because of global warming.

Around 2.3 million people are currently displaced, some of which are going to shelters set up in West Bengal by Save the Children.

"There is water everywhere. We could reach aid to only 10 percent of the affected population. We could not even airdrop food packets because of the flooding," Kanti Ganguly, West Bengal state minister for Sundarbans, told Reuters.

At least 135 people have died in Bangladesh and 75 in West Bengal, and hundreds are still missing, according to officials.

250 tigers in the reserve are in trouble and tens of thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed.

The waters are slowly beginning to receed, and the familes are starting to return home to find their homes destroyed or completely washed away.

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