DHAKA (AFP) — Bangladesh's army said Wednesday it had finally reached most parts of its cyclone-hit southern coastline where millions of desperate survivors were at risk from starvation and disease.
Six days after cyclone Sidr smashed in from the Bay of Bengal, small amounts of aid were at last getting through to most places but villagers -- most of whom have lost family members and livelihoods -- said much more was needed.
The storm, which brought furious winds, rain and a six-metre (20-foot) tidal wave, swept away everything its path, obliterating whole villages and killing as many as 10,000 people.
Army major Emdadul Islam told AFP the relief effort was slow going.
"We have reached everywhere with relief materials and we are also continuing rescue operations," he said.
But he added: "We informed every government, non-government officials and local journalists to inform us if they find any unreached areas where relief materials did not go."
Up to four million people in the area, one of the poorest places on the planet, have been left destitute and without adequate food and water.
"The last six days we spent cooking rotten rice," said survivor Abdul Gafur, from Ashar Char, an island in the Bay of Bengal, as the first aid consignment arrived there.
"(Until now) we have not received any aid from anyone. No boat came to us as most of them had been damaged or washed away. Even our market which before was full of food items has been wiped out," said fishermen Ripon Molla.
The United Nations said 3,447 people were confirmed dead, a further 2,062 reported missing, feared dead and 6,611 injured. Many bodies, washed out to sea, are unlikely to be found.
Aid agencies said it was now a race against time to provide assistance.
"It is unbelievable how people have been surviving in these conditions. If they do not get timely relief they could die or face debilitating outbreaks of disease," said Wahida Bashar Ahmed of ActionAid.
Bangladesh's interim government leader Fakhruddin Ahmed has described the cyclone as a "national crisis."
"The destruction of houses, roads, trees and crops by the hurricane is unimaginable," the leader of the military-backed government said in a televised address late Tuesday.
Army chief General Moeen U Ahmed has vowed to prevent anyone dying of hunger.
"Not a single man shall die without food as the government has sufficient stock of foodstuffs," Moeen said during a visit to the area.
Bangladeshis are famed for their ability to withstand natural disasters such as cyclones and floods that often hit the low-lying country.
But aid agencies said the sheer scale of the destruction -- described by the UN Children's Fund as "beyond all imagination" -- meant a huge, long-term relief and reconstruction effort would be needed.
Dhaka has received offers of international aid totalling 140 million dollars -- including 100 million from oil-rich Saudi Arabia and 5.1 million from former colonial power Britain.
The World Bank said it would additionally provide up to 250 million dollars to help fund initial aid efforts and commence reconstruction.
Two US navy ships carrying 3,500 marines and more than 30 helicopters were also expected to arrive in the affected area within days to help transport relief supplies.
"These people are in desperate need of dried food, drinking water and clothes. If we fail it will be a catastrophe," said Bangladeshi navy commander Bashir Ahmed, who is supervising the relief and rescue operation in the worst-hit Barguna district.
The scale of the aid operation needs to be huge -- with some 100 kilometres (60 miles) of coastline badly hit. The fishing industry, the mainstay of the coastline's economy, has also been wiped out.
Along the coast, villagers told AFP the majority of people had lost everything. Fishing trawlers, the only means of support for the whole community, lie smashed along the shore.
"In only 30 minutes, the whole area has become a cursed land," local government chairman Dulal Sarazi said of last week's storm.
"Even the worms in the ground have gone -- they are now buried under tonnes of sand," said resident Chin Teng Maung, a member of the Buddhist Rakhain community which usually relies on hunting wild boar, crabs, insects and worms to eat.
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