Cyclone displaces millions in India and Bangladesh

CYCLONE Aila has displaced millions of people in India and Bangladesh, only a fraction of whom have access to food and drinking water, officials said last night.

The cyclone has killed at least 210 people in the region, though officials said the death toll could rise, and rescuers have struggled to reach millions still marooned.

Cyclone Aila hit parts of coastal Bangladesh and eastern India on Monday, triggering tidal surges and floods.

Officials say more than one million people have been displaced in India’s Sundarban islands in West Bengal state alone.

Heavy rain raised river levels and burst mud embankments in the Sundarbans delta, destroying thousands of houses and causing widespread flooding in the eastern state, and triggered landslides.

Global warming experts say rising sea levels have seen the fragile Sundarbans lose 28% of its habitat in the past 40 years.

Nearly 2.3 million people have been displaced and tens of thousands have moved to government shelters in West Bengal, Save the Children said.

“We could reach aid to only 10% of the affected population. We could not even airdrop food packets because of the flooding,” said Kanti Ganguly, West Bengal state minister for Sundarbans.