Don’t Forget The Bangladesh Tragedies

The Bangladesh-based The Third World View reminds us here that Bangladesh faced several catastrophes over the years:

1. The 1970 cyclone that killed from 300,000-500,000 people but they still don’t know how many. It was the greatest tropical storm of the 20th Century. As Rezwan notes, the then-central government in what was then West Pakistan was bitterly criticized for doing little. (The anger helped propel East Pakistan’s breaking away from West Pakistan and becoming Bangladesh under the later-assassinated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
2. The April 1991 cycline that killed some 138,000 people (The Third World View has a Time quote that you must read that is shockingly similar to the horrorific tsnuami stories about the supreme suddeness of death).

Rezman notes that the world didn’t respond as extensively to Bangladesh as it is responding to the tidal wave victims but, he adds, modern technology has greatly boosted the ability to collect donations. And he notes:

From the updated figures in wikipedia, it is becoming evident the Asian Tsunami disaster will surpass Bangladesh’s disasters in becoming the biggest disaster in recent times. And the effected nations can learn from the Bangladeshi people about the tremendous courage they showed to stand up from devastation and start all over again. The world is with them this time and life must go on.