Sat 28 Apr 2007
I was a student of Chittagong medical College, when the cyclone of April 29 hit coastal Chittagong. It was drizzles all day, winds were gaining momentum as night fell on Chittagong. When I came out of the library building around 9 PM, the winds were quite strong, campus was deserted, and hospital lobby was empty. I had to stay over in the hospital that night because the road connecting the hospital and the student’s dorm on the other side of the hill was too unsafe for walking in that storm. Falling trees, flying debris were everywhere. As night progressed, storm got fierce and fiercer, as if the immense 6 story quarter mile long building will fall apart. As I took shelter in a bed at the sick student’s ward, it was a scary sleepless night. We, half a dozen stranded souls, kept waiting for the morning only to see utter devastation of the medical college campus. The beautiful hilly tree lined campus was in ruins, 50% of all the large trees were uprooted, and power lines were all over. The hospital, the highest tertiary health care-trauma center for all of southern Bangladesh was totally ineffective as the fallen trees completely blocked all the roads including that to the emergency.
That specific storm of april 29 originated in the Pacific about 6,000 km away and was named as tropical storm Marian. It took 20 days to reach the coast of Bangladesh. Then named as cyclone 2B of 1991, it had a dimension of more than the size of Bangladesh. The central overcast cloud had a diameter exceeding 600 km. The maximum wind speed observed at Sandwip was 225 km/hr.
At the aftermath of the storm, when the full picture of devastation came out, there were 150,000 people, billions of dollar worth property and cattle head vanquished.
The first American I have ever met was a soldier, probably a member of US marine corps. I saw him in Bangladesh. He was dispatched to Chittagong, Bangladesh after the deadly storm of April 29 1991. I was hustling across he crowded lobby of Chittagong medical college hospital when I spotted an area where the crowd is a little denser than the rest of the lobby. A well built Caucasian man in battle gear, sun burnt skin, walking across carrying a Bangladeshi toddler on his shoulder. The toddler, clearly a victim of the recent cyclone, was vomiting all over the marine’s body.
The soldier was in Chittagong as a part of operation sea angel.
Between 10 May and 13 June 1991 Joint Task Force Sea Angel, one of the largest military disaster relief forces ever assembled, took part in rescue and rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath after the Category 5 cyclone of 29 April 1991, which was one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in recent times. Operation Sea Angel started with an advance teams from the III Marine Expeditionary Force and later included over 7,000 US soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen. A fifteen-ship amphibious task force composed of Amphibious Group 3 and the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, homeward bound from five months of operations in the Persian Gulf, was diverted to the Bay of Bengal to assist.
Lieutenant General Henry C. Stackpole, commander of the III Marine Expeditionary Force based in Okinawa, was in charge of the Contingency Joint Task Force. On the eve of the 15th anniversary of the catastrophe, General Stackpole visited Bangladesh last year.
( This is a repost from last year)
May 12th, 2006 at 1:18 am
As it happens I was a member of JTF Sea Angel.
I was based on Okinawa and was part of the contigent that LGen Stackole called for to setup his command element in Dhaka. The trip there was quite interesting, involving overnight stops in Subic Bay, Phillipines and Thailand.
As it happens my final contribution was not great; I stood radio watch in the command element radio room, wrote a database program for the personel officer. That was about it.
But your country made an impression on me, and your people stuck me as fair and generous and - frankly - quite exotic after spending nearly 15 months in Japan.
I’d love to go back. If you get a chance to meet General Stackpole, do so. He’s a helluva guy.
Brian Dunbar
Liftport
May 12th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Thanks Brian for your comments. And thanks for helping the people of Bangladesh during the time of a real need.
As I was in Chittagong during that time, I know how operation sea angel activities impressed the general people.
When the storm news faded away, I remember the activities of Operation Sea angel used to occupy all the newspaper headlnes.
And you are always welcome back in Bangladesh.
July 7th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
I was involved in Operation Sea Angel. I was the Officer-in-Charge of one of the two LCAC detachments that participated. It was the hardest work yet most rewarding few weeks of my time spent in the military. We moved many loads of relief supplies to the islands of Sandwip and the surrounding islands from Chittagong. I had the pleasure of working with a Bangladeshi Naval Officer, Lieutenant Raouf. I will never forget him and the wonderful response we received from the people of Bangladesh, I’m glad we were able to help. The photographs I have from that time are priceless to me. It is a reminder to me of how lucky we are to be Americans and how truly lovely the people who live in Bangladesh are. I was moved by how, in the face of such tragedy the Bangledeshis with whom I interacted always had a warm smile, a friendly handshake and showed such tremendous hospitality.
Best Regards,
Jerry
Jerry
July 8th, 2006 at 7:06 am
Thanks Jerry for helping Bangladesh during that time of crisis. Definitely yours and others efforts collectively helped Bangladesh better prepare for future storms.
The people of Bangladesh are greatful to you all.
September 27th, 2006 at 11:51 pm
In 1990 I asked for immediate transfer to the Fleet Marine Forces hoping to get to the possible action in the middle east. In one of my assignments I was with Gen Stackpole’s medical crew. Amidst all our restless researches, medical and relief plannings and deliveries many of us found comfort in knowing that your people and the government at that time did appreciate our presence.
We at Operation Sea Angel were more than military personnel. Along with the US contingency were some Russians, British, French, Austrlians, to name a few. During one of my medical inspections on one of the islands a Bangladeshi military outpost helped me out (with local food, conversation, laughter, and an escort back to the pick-up point by helicopter. The LCACs and countless helicopters were relentless during the whole operation.
Many of your people whom I met and worked with were very good. I hope then that someday your country will overcome many of it’s human made problems.
By the way, one of the problems we encountered in 1991 was the inability to land in Chittagong the huge cargo aircrafts for direct delivery of relief related materials. The stop-over in Dhaka and transfer of materials to smaller aircrafts left much to be desired.
I wish that in every place where our offer of support is accepted that the receiving government and its people will welcome and always assist us in helping themselves. That was the way it was in your place.
April 28th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiun
Heres to a safer bangladesh. May our society protect itself better and better as the years roll on. That the people show their qualities through these trials that we live amongst.
April 28th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
16 years later, Bangladesh weather forecasting is a sorry state of affairs. Many fishermen perish in deadly storms in Bay of Bengal with their trawlers.
I hope the interim government would do something to give proper early warning to fishermen and people who live near coastal areas.
April 29th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Rumi, thank you for this post. I am heartened to see the comments from US military personnel to this post.
Lt. General Stackpole is an officer and a gentleman. In Bangladesh’s time of need, the US demonstrated what the true meaning of “force projection” can be.
April 29th, 2007 at 3:54 am
Hasib, as I recall, in 1991 the weather forcasting was not the problem. The government sent out warnings starting days before landfall. Even Khaleda Zia was on television urging people to take shelter. About 2 to 3 million people evacuated. However, most stayed because they either had nowhere to go or were not willing to leave their homes for fear of the unknown.
The main problem was not warning - there was more than ample warning on the 1991 storm. The main problem was lack of adequate shelter on the outlying islands and the fact of the low lying islands themselves (the lack of infrastructure, hardened buildings, etc.).
On top of all that, this storm was a category 5 at one point and made landfall as a strong category 4(155mph sustained winds) - this was a massive storm. Compare that to the 1970 Bhola cyclone which was only a category 3 but took half a million lives. The warnings and the after event responses in Bangladesh have improved dramatically (compare and contrast to Hurricane Katrina as well).
The warnings have gotten quite good. Sadly the shelters remain a problem to this day. People simply have nowhere to go to protect themselves when the warnings come.
April 29th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Mash is right. Forecast was not an issue even then. Forecast has gotten much better now. The authorities even improvised means other than radio/TV to warn people adequately. From the library, at least 10 miles from the coast, I heard rickshaws carrying loud speakers and urging people to take shelter. Even mosque loud speakers were being used.
The culture of taking these warning seriously was not there.
I myself didn’t bother to care much about the warning and stayed in the library till 9 PM. Only reason we had to leave as the library staffs were getting restless as they will not get transport back home in that stormy night.
As well, what mash said, for many, there was no easily accessible place to take shelter.
I am confident, the next catagory five storm will not kill a fraction of people compared to this 1991 storm. But our goal will be to prevent even a single loss of life.
April 29th, 2007 at 5:59 am
It reminds me of the cyclone just befor Bangladesh became independent. My father was then the Relief Commisioner of East Pakistan. I was then under 10 but I still remember the chopper flights my father was taking to the coastal belts on a daily basis (at times 4-5 flights a day) on US Bells and Russian MIs.
One day my father saw off one of the captains of a huge Antonov cargo at the Old Airport at Tejgaon and later at night we heard the plane crashed somewhere over West Bengal. We still have the coat-pin souvenir of the Antonov the Russian pilot gave my father on leaving Bangladesh. May his soul RIP.
I also remember visiting the Antonovs, C-130s, Bells, MIs and other choppers stationed at Old Airport for the mega relief work undertaken by the government and our foreign friends.
April 29th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Unfotunate to note no where there is no mention of Bangladesh Army which was much bigger than the 7000 force of Operation Sea Angel and who coordinated the whole affair. That much is our sense of pride!!!!!
Sorry mate …. it will take you more than what you did to rescue nation from 1/11. Go on - do your duty - and please please remember to serve the country like the way you did in 1991 is your job. Like CAS said, running the country is not. If no one makes a mention of it, surely your country, Bangladesh notes. What else you need! That is the biggest recognition.
Thank you Bangladesh Army, for the most important role you played along with your friends from US, UK, and many many more countries that came on board to help cope with disaster.
Thanks to our friends from international forces of Ope Sea Angel where our army was the biggest contributor in terms of manpower. Thanks to Post # 5. From Castano who made mention at least :…”During one of my medical inspections on one of the islands a Bangladeshi military outpost helped me out….”
I feel sad to write this……….
LTT
April 29th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
LTT, Bangladesh military had just recently been sent to the barracks after 15 years of ruling the country in 1991. The rank and file, who are also sons of Bangladesh, performed their duty well in 1991.
But, since you wanted to inject politics into this, I will indulge you.
It was because of the distrust of the military and the experience of the previous 15 years, the NGOs, specifically CARE and Red Crescent, were wary of dealing with the newly formed Bangladesh government. The coordination of the relief efforts before May 12th was a disaster in itself. Dr. Yunus, at the time, was quite vocal about the relief effort. There was bickering between the civilians and the military, and everyone was working in cross purposes. Add to that the fact that whatever lift capacity Bangladesh had had been decimated by the storm, and you had a logistical mess on your hands - there was ample relief and no way to get it to the people who needed it. That is where the US help was decisive - they provided the distribution capability that was lacking.
Once a working group was set up and the chain of command properly established between those who had the relief, and those who transported them, things started to move more efficiently. When the Bangladesh military was properly deployed and used, they performed very well.
However, that is a very different scenerio than taking over and running the country. You seem to fail to see the difference. Throwing around phrases like “rescue nation on 1/11″ may sound exciting, but cheering on a military takeover is significantly different than cheering the military for doing their job. Conflating the two to make a political point is weak at best.
It seems these days its not possible to see anything unless it is through the prism of the current military takeover. That is the sad part.
April 29th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
[...] hearts and minds. A Bangladeshi human rights blogger, Rumi Ahmed, who lived through the events recollects in a post commemorating the [...]
April 29th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
well LTT nice to see you again. But I think you should not be sad. Because None is denying
about the contribution of Bangladesh Army and It is the Core Job of Army.
If I am not Mistaken u might represent Bangladesh Army. May be I am even wrong But
I think You can share with us your experience
of that time.
Because To be very honest I feel really thrilled to know the experience of such thing.
I think You guys are lucky enough to get such opportunity .
April 29th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
LTT, although we are digressing, but can’t help responding to you.
I have no doubt in my mind that Bangladesh Armed forces are the last remaining disciplined and efficient part of Bangladesh government. In our needs, we usually have no where else but the armed forces to rely upon. Just a few days ago I mentioned how an active Navy chief died while at duty serving the distressed coastal people. Armed forces are our last resort, no doubt.
Having said that, the question will come, that the forces were serving their country, their own families, thier own people. The country herself somehow pays for these forces, even while a majority subjects of the country do not get adequate food for the day.
The forces definitely deserve recognition for their role, so does all hundreds of thousands of people who jumped into to pitch in the rescue and rehabb effort.
When me along with a small bunch students in their early twenties crossed the violently turbulant Sandwip channel with a troller, we saw Naval boats were waiting patiently to get the meritime clearance to cross the channel. As we landed in Sandwip, alreday on the ground were Lungi-panjabi clad workers from the Redcross and Anjuman-e-Mofidul islam. These workers did the most gruesome job of collecting, carrying and burying 150,000 dead bodies. Like that one in the picture, many corpses were hanging in the trees or floating in rough water channels. They also took care of decomposing animal heads.
Chittagong medical College campus was ground zero for civilian volunteer activities. Students from all over the country, as far as Rangpur, Mymenshing used to come in buses with collected relief material and camp in the campus soccer field. We ran two successful projects with volunteers. People came from all over the country, made and baked breads and packed them. This makeshift bread and orsaline factories, ran 24/7 with hundreds of people working at any moment, for at least two months. These all were made possible by the volunteers from all sectors of the society.
Our thanks to all of them.
And special thanks went to sea angels (and other foreign) team because they came to a country, the name of which they never heard of, worked hard for months without any special UN scale salary.
April 29th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Mash,
Weather forecasting is a problem now - I watched a program on Channel I recently — the fishermen were unanimous about lack of early warning and often inaccurate warning from the government Met office.
I don’t know if there was adequate attempt by the government to safeguard the lives of coastal folks back in 1991 but I do know how terrible these storms are in Bay of Bengal.
In fact I have had first hand experience of being in a storm in Bay of Bengal near Khulna back in the 80s while serving in a Merchant vessel. A Korean vessel sank in that storm and several sailors died.
Luckily we survived unscathed.
April 29th, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Hasib, there are at least three elements to cyclone preparation. They are forcasting, warning, and evacuation.
Forcasting is not done solely by Bangladesh. Cyclone forcasting is a global collaborative venture. Because of the nature of how cyclones develop over many days, they are tracked quite early and forcasting worldwide has been generally good. Bangladesh relies on satellite data from NOAA weather satellites and regional forcasting centers to make cyclone track and storm surge predictions. Forcasting has improved worldwide - and dramatically in the last decade and a half. And it has saved lives. Forcasting exact track and storm surge remains a challenge but they are quite good at predicting the cone of the track out to a few days.
See here for some info on global forcasting: http://www.prh.noaa.gov/cphc/pages/FAQ/Forecasting.php
Warnings in Bangladesh go out from the Storm Warning Center in Dhaka. Warnings go out to all branches of government, the NGOs, coastal volunteers, the general public (via radio, TV, and volunteers), and to the Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) in the coastal areas. CPP is an elaborate system of volunteers all the way down to the village level equipped with weather radios and megaphones and sirens to warn the public. Here’s some info: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/asp/Events/EmergencyTelecomWorkshops/Bangladesh_Workshop/Presentation/11)%20Cyclone%20Preparedness%20Program%20%5BCPP%5D.pdf
The remaining issue is evacuation to shelters. Bangladesh only has shelter for about 1.3 million out of the 7 million who live in the coastal region. Nonetheless better forcasting and warnings have saved many lives.
Here are the statistics:
1970 Cyclone: 500,000 dead
1991 cyclone: 138,000 dead
1994 cyclone: 400 dead
1995 cyclone: 650 dead
1997 cyclone (similar strength as 1970): 126 dead
1998 cyclone: 8 dead
Warning and preparedness have saved lives. There are many things that don’t work in Bangladesh. But cyclone preparation has improved dramatically, especially since 1991, in a very dangerous part of the world for natural disasters. Bangladeshis can take pride in the dedication of the weather forcasters and the storm warning center in saving untold hundreds of thousands of lives.
We will never be able to bring the death toll to zero from such massive shows of force from mother nature. However, we can take steps to guard against the danger. In this, Bangladesh has done exceptionally well in collaboration with other countries.
April 30th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Mash:
I have no doubt about the fact that Bangladesh is getting all the real time data from NOAA, INMARSAT and other sources — but obviously there are problems otherwise why these fishermen would complain of not getting info on their radios?
Obviously somebody is not doing their job right.
NOAA has lot of good informative stuff on their site. Thank you for the links.
April 30th, 2007 at 2:58 am
Hasib, I’ve seen the same report by Shykh Siraj. When he talked to the official at the storm warning center at Cox’sbazar, an interesting info came out. That official showed documents and log entries that appropriate storm warning was issued. But he said that the problem was that the fisherman were not allowed to carry a radio by the troller owners. Because the owners know that when there is a depression in the bay, due to warm water more fish come up and as a result, there usually are more catch. Owners subject the poor fishermen to higher risk for petty financial gain.
April 30th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Rumi,
That is unacceptable behavior by the trawler owners. The fishermen need the best forecast available.
BTW, I came across this article on yesterday’s newagebd. Seems like the government needs to do a lot more in the Khulna region.
No cyclone preparedness in
Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira
Staff Correspondent . Khulna
The government and the Red Crescent Society have been running Cyclone Preparedness Programme for long in all the coastal districts, barring Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira, leaving the people of the districts vulnerable to cyclone.
Discussants at a workshop in the Khulna city on Sunday came heavily down on the government for what they said its nonchalant attitude to the people of the three southwestern districts.
They also urged the government to implement the CPP to shield the people from the natural calamities like cyclone.
Oxfam-GB in cooperation with a Khulna-based non-governmental organisation, Rupantar, organised the workshop on ‘Cyclone Preparedness Programme Promotion’ at a hotel in Khulna city.
Government officials, NGO personnel, journalists and volunteers from coastal belt attended the workshop organised to make the people aware of cyclones.
Rupantar director Rafiqul Haque Khokon presented
the keynote paper at the workshop.
Chaired by Rupantar chief executive Swapan Guha, the workshop was also addressed by Khulna deputy commissioner SM Firoz Alam, Khulna University teacher Dilip Dutta, Khulna Press Club president Mokbul Hossain Mintu, general secretary Md Saheb Ali and Professor Wahidur Rahman.
The keynote paper said seven lakh people lost their lives in different cyclones and other natural calamities in the country from 1960 to 1997, including five lakh people in the cyclone on November 12, 1970, eleven thousand and sixty nine
people in hurricane on May 25, 1985, two thousand people in hurricane on November 29, 1988 and 1.38 lakh people in cyclone on April 29, 1991.
Though Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts are located in the coastal zone vulnerable to cyclone, no cyclone preparedness programme is run by the government, said the paper, adding that the programme is being run in other districts along the 712-kilometre curvilinear coasts.
Rupantar has formed 27 committees each comprising of 15 members, following the model of CPP committees, at Mongla thana in Bagerhat to warn the people about cyclones, the paper informed, suggesting that the government should take immediate action to run CPP at all the upazilas of Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts.
The speakers demanded that the government should launch cyclone preparedness programme in the districts and introduce community radio service to guard the people from against natural calamity like cyclone.
May 7th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
[...] operation is estimated to have saved as many as 200,000 lives. Drishtipat’s Rumi Ahmed recalls those fateful events (and has responses from servicemen who actually served during that humanitarian [...]
May 7th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
[...] remembers the American relief operations in Bangladesh in the aftermath of tropical storm Marian. [His post has comments from Americans soldiers who took part in the relief [...]
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Rumi.
I was surprised and pleased to find this blog site. The first US soldiers to respond the cyclone were from Bravo Company, 84th Engineer Battalion, US Army. We were working in Mymensingh building schools. I was the commander of that team. The day after the cyclone I was sent down to Chittagong to help assess the situation. I arrived in Chittagong on either 30 April or 1 May 1991 (my memory is a bit hazy) with one of my squad leaders; I took a video camera and the video I shot was sent to the White House. President George H. Bush then made a very quick decision to send in the US Task Force. Prior to the Task Force arrival, part of my team came down to Chittagong and started working with the NGO’s in relief operations. The soldier you saw in the hospital was likely myself or SGT Nelson. It was pretty chaotic and much of the 4 weeks I spent there are now a blur.
My time in Bangladesh during Operation Sea Angel was my second deployment to Bangladesh. While the work in Bangladesh was difficult, Bangladesh will always hold a place in my heart.
Best Regards.
HDS