Hatiya reels from deaths, destruction

A storm-hit family waits for relief beside their damaged house at Char Uriya under Subarnachar upazila of Noakhali district yesterday. No relief materials reached the family, comprising nine members, in the last two days. Photo: Banglar Chokh

The violent storm that lashed southern coastal areas of the country early Thursday left a trail of destruction on Hatiya Island under Noakhali district.
Thousands of uprooted and broken trees and electric poles were seen lying on the roads and on roadside farmlands and ponds while many houses, shops, school buildings and other structures were razed to the ground across the island.
A few more bodies were found floating on the Meghna yesterday morning. As soon as the news spread, local people, who had lost their near and dear ones in Thursday's storm, thronged the bank of the river.
Upazila administration sources said around 100 fishermen of the island, who went missing during the twister, remained untraced until yesterday afternoon.
Around 3000 houses, mostly thatched and tin-roofed, 100 schools and madrasas and aman on about 1, 8000 acres of land in 12 unions of the upazila were damaged by the storm.
The said five unions--Carring Char, Jahajmara, Boyar Char, Noler Char and Nijhumdwip--are the worst affected areas.
Locals alleged that they did not get sufficient help from the upazila administration to remove the uprooted and broken trees from the roads.
A trader of Mosjid Market in Oskhali area alleged that the upazila administration even failed to remove a broken tree from the road adjacent to the upazila office. Locals later removed it from the road, he added.
Refuting the allegations, UNO Mahidur Rahman said the upazila administration with the help of the forest department and a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) removed the uprooted and broken trees from both sides of the main road stretching from Jahajmara to Nolchira in the last two days.
Storm-hit people of the island alleged that they were yet to get any relief.
UNB adds: With the recovery of two more bodies from Monpura upazila yesterday, the death toll from the powerful storm in Bhola district rose to nine.
Locals recovered the bodies from Meghna River near Monpura sluice gate and the western side of old Khamar. The identity of the deceased, aged about 15 and 20, could not be known.