THE DISASTROUS FLOODS which struck Bangladesh in 1987 and
1988 killed more than 3,000 people. They destroyed millions of
homes, devastated crops on several million hectares of land,
killed over 200,000 farm animals and did enormous damage to the
country's economic infrastructure. Direct capital losses were
estimated at $1.8 billion. Indirect economic losses may have
been even higher.
Not quantified was the enormous human distress. The 1988
flood submerged about two-thirds of the country, directly
affecting some 45 million people, urban as well as rural. Many
lived for weeks under appalling conditions, with inadequate
shelter, food, water, sanitation and health care, without
employment, and dependent on government and voluntary relief.
Cry for food, drinking water - Flood engulfs 29
more villages in Satkhira
