BoB: Very Severe Cyclonic Storm SIDR

[Coredesat]

and the variable 3000 here - http://www.ptinews.com/pti/ptisite.nsf/$All/252E082A6F7BB81C652573950055F718?OpenDocument

Missing = casualties, but officially, missing =/= dead.

Although unfortunately, they probably are dead.

[Squarethecircle]

That's why I said between 1100 and 4100, because none, all, or any number in between could be dead.

[Derecho]

Casualties = dead, missing, and injured.

However for some years the media has been misusing casualties to mean dead SO much that most people think it means dead and its sort of a hopeless fight to keep the original, correct military definition anymore.

It gets to be a problem when government or military officials use the term casualties correctly but the media misunderstands it.

[Ptarmigan]

I've heard different sources ranking from 240-1100.

1100 dead is a lot.

[simpleman]

dear everyone
thank you all very much . i am from Bangladesh ,and i beleived in your predictions and you people are correct by 99 percent.i used your info
to make the people i know aware and also some friends in the electronic media who used it also .
it is also nice to see how many of you were worried and it shows that though there are differnces but as human beings we do care for each other .
death toll may not cross 5000 at the extreme . even many of htese deaths are indirect results like being hit by a tree . i was very sad to see that a one day old girl died as their house collapsed and no shelter was available nearby and the child died from the cold and rain .
each life lost is a tragedy but we will rise to it and we will march forward . thank you all and may God bless

[HurricaneBill]

Simpleman, I'm glad you are safe and I hope Bangladesh gets the help it needs so it can recover.

[rumi]

In 1991, the cyclone hit on April 29. On May 1, 3 days after landfall, the press was reporting that 1000 people died. Unfortunately the real toll began to emerge much later. On May 3, the toll had climbed to 40,000. On May 4, the toll was 92,000. On May 11, the toll had climbed to 125,000. The actual toll is over 138,000.

Even though the storm's initial impact was devastating, relief efforts in 1991 saved perhaps two hundred thousand lives. Apart from Bangladeshi efforts, Operation Sea Angel, the US military relief effort in support of the Bangladesh government, was the largest sea-borne relief operation ever conducted. It was hugely successful and made a dramatic impact.

For yesterday's storm, we are now at 500 dead. Cyclone preparedness has improved a lot since 1991, like it had since 1970, so hopefully many more people got out this time.

[Squarethecircle]

In 1991, the cyclone hit on April 29. On May 1, 3 days after landfall, the press was reporting that 1000 people died. Unfortunately the real toll began to emerge much later. On May 3, the toll had climbed to 40,000. On May 4, the toll was 92,000. On May 11, the toll had climbed to 125,000. The actual toll is over 138,000.

Even though the storm's initial impact was devastating, relief efforts in 1991 saved perhaps two hundred thousand lives. Apart from Bangladeshi efforts, Operation Sea Angel, the US military relief effort in support of the Bangladesh government, was the largest sea-borne relief operation ever conducted. It was hugely successful and made a dramatic impact.

For yesterday's storm, we are now at 500 dead. Cyclone preparedness has improved a lot since 1991, like it had since 1970, so hopefully many more people got out this time.

Wow... Finally someone who elevates grammar to necessity .
Seriously, it's great to have all these new people from Bangladesh telling us about this storm, isn't it? It's almost like we're there with them. Only time will tell what this storm has wrought.

[Sanibel]

They said 15 feet of surge which was just about right for what we were estimating. 15 feet is unsurvivable if caught in the open. I think the impact areas were hit so bad that word isn't coming out, so many thousand more dead is probably within reason. But we are talking 40 foot surge in 1970 on the peak of a flood tide vs 15 foot surge on an ebb tide. Still, I think Bangladesh has made advances in saving lives. This is just a guess, but Sidr possibly hit the shearing jet just at landfall and had it's top shifted east causing the surge to be less than what it could have been. (Possibly)