Cyclone Aila toll in Bangladesh rises to 121

September 12th, 2009 DHAKA - Unable to repay a loan taken after cyclone Aila hit his village, a man has been 'coerced' into marrying off his 13-year-old daughter to a 75-year-old moneylender in Barisal, southern Bangladesh. The marriage between Akhinur, 13, and 75-year-old moneylender Lokman Sikder was solemnised Sep 4, as the teenager's father Azhar Bepari could not return Tk 4,000 ($ 58) he had borrowed in May this year.

June 9th, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal's ruling Left Front (LF) Tuesday said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should declare cyclone Aila, that hit parts of West Bengal coasts May 25, as a national disaster, considering the gravity of the damage it caused in Sundarban Islands. "We're demanding that the Aila damages be declared as a national disaster and seek the centre's help to carry out rescue operations in the cyclone-hit Sundarbans area," state LF chairman Biman Bose told a press conference here.

June 2nd, 2009 KOLKATA - West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was heckled and jeered by the disgruntled survivors of Cyclone Aila Tuesday when he visited a relief camp in Sunderbans, while a ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) legislator was smeared with mud. Venting their anger after the devastating cyclone caused death and destruction last month, villagers at a relief camp asked the chief minister why the state government had failed to build concrete embankments in Sundarbans despite being in power for more than past three decades.

May 30th, 2009 KOLKATA - China has donated $30,000 (Rs.1.41 million) to the Indian Red Cross Society for cyclone relief work in West Bengal. China's ambassador to India, Zhang Yan, Thursday handed over a cheque to S.P.

May 30th, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government will rebuild 400 kms of embankments destroyed by Cyclone Aila in the mangrove forests of Sundarbans in an effort to save the region from any more floods in the coming monsoon. "We'll start constructing 400 kms of embankments in Sundarbans and will try to finish the work within the next one week," state Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar told reporters after surveying the cyclone-hit villages in the Sundarbans Saturday.

May 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Friday said she would submit a report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the post-cyclone Aila situation in West Bengal. "I'll meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow (Saturday) and will report to him about the post-Aila situation in West Bengal," Banerjee told a Bengali television channel, Star Ananda, over phone from the national capital.

May 29th, 2009 500,000 homeless after South Asia cycloneCALCUTTA, India — Hundreds of thousands of people flooded out of their homes by deadly Cyclone Aila crowded government shelters in eastern India and Bangladesh on Friday, and officials said the risk of disease outbreaks was growing. The death toll from Monday's cyclone rose to 264 people in the two countries.

May 28th, 2009 SILIGURI - With the recovery of three more bodies, the toll in the landslides in West Bengal's hill district of Darjeeling due to Cyclone Aila has risen to 27, police said Thursday. "We have recovered three bodies from the debris at Rangiabong under Jorbungalow police station area this (Thursday) morning.

May 28th, 2009 KOLKATA - The West Bengal government has demanded that the centre declare the havoc caused by Cyclone Aila in the state as a national calamity and has sought an assistance of Rs.10 billion for carrying out restoration work. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said his government would incur expenses of over Rs.15 billon in executing the repair work in areas ravaged by the cyclone.

May 27th, 2009 DHAKA - The toll in cyclone Aila has risen to 91 in Bangladesh, officials said. The government said Tuesday 91 people have died and more than 800 others injured in the cyclone that hit the country's coastal region Monday.

May 26th, 2009 SILIGURI - At least 22 people were killed and several injured in landslides - triggered by Cyclone Aila - in West Bengal's hill district of Darjeeling Tuesday, police said. "At least 22 people died and 10 were injured in landslides across Darjeeling district.

May 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tuesday asked the central government to urgently provide all necessary assistance to the West Bengal government to carry out relief and rehabilitation operations in the state hit by Cyclone Aila. The cyclone battered coastal West Bengal and hit Kolkata Monday as it uprooted trees, electricity poles and thatched homes, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, killing 27 people and affecting 110,000 others.

May 26th, 2009 DHAKA - The death toll from Cyclone Aila, which hit Bangladesh Monday, rose to 62 Tuesday following recovery of 44 more bodies from various storm-battered coastal districts, ATN Bangla TV channel reported. Cyclone Aila hit the south-western coast Monday afternoon, killing at least 18 people as per initial reports and washing away several thousand homes.

May 26th, 2009 DHAKA - 'Cyclone Aila' has claimed 18 lives in south-western Bangladesh. Over 500 others are reported to be missing.

May 25th, 2009 DHAKA - At least nine people were killed as cyclone "Aila", packing winds of up to 100 km per hour made landfall along Bangladesh's coastline Monday, officials said. Several thousands homes were washed away in tidal surges in low-lying coastal areas and on offshore islands in the Bay of Bengal when the cyclone hit in the late afternoon.