Cyclone Sidr- What we can do

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/04/feature_cyclone_sidr.htm

Just when we were starting to slowly recover from the monsoon floods in the northern parts of the country, Cyclone Sidr has ravaged 22 districts of Bangladesh as one of the worst natural calamities to have happened in the nation’s history. Sidr has been described as a category 4 Cyclone (deadlier than Katrina) and has raged its severest onslaughts packing winds of 240 km/h (150mph) on the southern coast of Bangladesh from about 5:30 pm, Thursday 15th November to early Friday (16th November). After that, it weakened into a tropical storm and moved across the country to the northeastern part into India.

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated thanks to localized early warning systems in place (using microphone canvassing, radio bulletins etc) and so a huge number of lives were saved. Airports suspended flight operations and sea ports ceased operations. When the Cyclone struck communications and electricity supplies were snapped across the country. Most parts of the coastal region were virtually blacked out during the night. The capital Dhaka had power and communications link cut off as driving rains flooded some streets and strong winds sent billboards flying through the air. Buildings and roofs were shaken by fierce winds during the night, and that by morning power and water supplies had been cut. However, the power and other utility systems in Dhaka and most of the areas were brought back to a normal level within two days.

But before leaving, Sidr had managed to ravage the lives of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of the coastal region death toll currently stands at over 3000 and the Red Crescent has estimated that it can reach up to 10,000 or more in the end. The cyclone left its mark of devastation on 133 upazilas (in 22 districts), 962 unions, affecting a population of 3.144 million of about 88,700 families. The storm killed 242,000 livestock and completely destroyed crops on 23,122 – acre land including 600,000 metric tons of Aman Rice. According to an estimate, 273,000 houses were totally flattened, with 58 km roads totally destroyed and another 1,363km damaged.

According to reports, the total damages came close to 450 million US Dollars!

It has been reported that already 25 million US Dollars have been pledged by different foreign organizations as aids to help the cyclone affected people. But a huge amount of money would still be required to get things back into shape. All of us, from all walks of life should involve ourselves in this rehabilitation and aids process in any way we can. Maybe a little less shopping this season, maybe a little less lighting and extravagance in our social functions, a little less dining out perhaps and that can make all the difference.

Here is a list of ways how you can make a change:

For People living in Bangladesh and all over the world

Those who wish to help, may remit cash directly to the following account:

Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund,
Current Account No. 33004093, Sonali Bank,
Prime Minister’s Office Branch,
Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
SWIFT Code: BSONBDDH.

For People Living In Canada
Those living in CANADA and wishing to help, may please send bank/postal draft, cheque to be drawn on any of the following bank account:

Prime Minister’s Relief Fund,
Account No. 00236-5077441,
Royal Bank of Canada,
99 Bank Street, Ottawa, Canada,
C/O – Bangladesh High Commission,
Ottawa. SWIFT Code : ROYCATT2.

If you are sending bank/postal draft, cheque , etc., you may also send it to Bangladesh High Commission in Ottawa (275 Bank street, Suite-302, Ottawa, ON K2P 2L6) for deposit with the accounts.

Please also note that at the special request of the High Commission, some money exchanges/remitting agencies owned by Bangladeshi expatriates in Toronto and Montreal have agreed to remit money to any of the above relief funds free of charges or commissions.

You can visit

http://www.bdhc.org/new.htm for further details.

For People Living In Australia
Bangladesh High Commission, Canberra
Account Name: Relief Fund
Account Number: 032729 199161
Bank: Westpac Banking Corporation
Branch: Manuka, ACT

You can visit
www.bangladoot-canberra.org/PR_HighComm_ReliefFund.pdf
for more information.

For People Living In Usa
Individuals or organizations desiring to make donations may send their contributions directly to the Chief Adviser’s Relief Fund in the following address:

Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund
Current Account No. 33004093
SWIFT Code: BSONBDDH
Sonali Bank, Prime Minister’s Office Branch
Tejgaon, Dhaka

Individuals or organisations may also send the donation to the relief fund by money transfer agencies. If the donations are sent through the Sonali Exchange Co., USA, no additional fees for transfer will be required. In that case, the amount should be directly paid in cash or through cheque (payable) to Sonali Exchange Co. Inc. USA. (Please mention ‘For Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund’ in the space for ‘Memo’) The Sonali Exchange will send the money to the Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund within the next business day and will issue a confirmation receipt in favor of the donor. ‘Placid Express’ has also announced that donation to the ‘Chief Adviser’s Relief and Welfare Fund’ can be remitted without any transfer fee.

As for sending relief materials, the Government of Bangladesh would prefer receiving food grains, water purification tablets, water purification units for the rehabilitation works. However, the cost of shipment will have to be borne by the sender (s) of such relief materials.

For any clarification on the procedure, please contact Bangladesh Consulate General in New York directly or speak to Mr. Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, Consul at 1-212-599-6767 ext 15/10/21 or 212-687-5368.

Please visit www.bdcgny.org/archive/instructions_flood_donations.html for further information.

Also, information about donating specifically to aid Bangladesh cyclone victims will be available on:

http://www.worldvision.org/

http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/07/07111602/index.asp

http://www.savethechildren.org/newsroom/2007/pr-super-cyclone-bangladesh-2007.html

Many young people do not have bank accounts but are interested in donating. You can simply use your cell phone for the purpose. If you have a Bangladeshi cell phone connection, simply type ‘help’ and send a SMS to 1010 – every time you do that, the respective company will give an entire 10 Taka from your balance to the Chief Adviser’s Relief Fund. It should be noted that all the six cell phone providers in Bangladesh – Grameen Phone, Banglalink, Aktel, Citycell, Warid Telecom and Teletalk are offering their facilities in this process.

Most of the universities and colleges (especially in Dhaka) are launching campaigns for helping the cyclone hit people. Try to find what’s happening at your institution and help them in an way and every way you can money, dry food, clothes, essential medicines or even volunteering for the cyclone donation programs and going in person to the effected areas to understand what the people are going through!
I’d personally request all the respected readers of Star Campus, to avail any of the methods mentioned above and help the poor, distraught people of the coastal regions who have practically lost whatever they had. Please feel free to post the online version of this article (http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/11/04/feature_cyclone_sidr.htm) into your blogs, Facebook notes or any other place for more publicity so that more and more Bangladeshis (and well wishers of the country) can come forward for this great cause.

Spotlight : Students unite for a noble cause

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2007/09/04/camspotlight.htm

“Students must have initiative; they should not be mere imitators. They must learn to think and act for themselves – and be free.” – Cesar Chavez

Bangladesh has witnessed one of the worst floods in its history this year. Just when things seemed to look good, torrential rain and downpour have caused the floods to return in some of the worst affected districts. Thankfully, the more privileged section of the society has not turned their back to the poor flood-affected people and different relief and rehabilitation work is in full swing. Students, once again, have played a major role in bringing this into reality.

The primary responsibility of students is surely and undoubtedly that of attaining good education and get prepared to join the country’s workforce when the time comes. However, this does not mean that students should always keep themselves busy with their studies, as the saying goes, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. Young people too deserve their fair share of fun activities, including sports, watching television and to the more recent trends of spending hours with the PC or the Ipod!

But they are also responsible to their country and that is where ‘Community Service’ comes in. These days, a growing number of young people are showing interest in involving themselves in different sorts of community service activities. As much as these activities work for the development of the society, in more ways than one, they also inspire other young people to come out and do something for their country or their society.

Starting from blood donation to providing voluntary free education to organizing fund raising events, Different government and non-government organizations, the armed forces and educational institutions offered support. Different fund-raising programs including concerts and meena-bazars were organized in schools, colleges and universities all across the country.

Booths sprang up in cafeterias and common rooms to collect money, clothes and dry foods for the poor and unprivileged flood-stricken people. Blood donation programs were launched to help those who were affected by post-flood diseases. Students themselves ventured out to different districts, far from their home cities to actively participate in the flood relief operations. Students of medical colleges ventured out with medicines and offered free medical check-up to the flood-affected areas.

We, from Star Campus heartily appreciate each and everyone who has come forward in this hour of need of the country. We hope that all the rehabilitation work continues smoothly to recover from the catastrophe at the earliest possible time.

HANS The Power of The Youth

http://thedailystar.net/campus/2007/09/03/feature_hans.htm

These days, a large number of young people are involving themselves in different sorts of community service activities. As much as these activities work for the development of the society, in more ways than one, they also inspire other young people to come out and do something for their country or their society. HANS or “HELLO’s Association of Neophyte-Students” is one such endeavour. The organization, in addition to its many other activities, is trying to help the autistic children of the country in many different ways.

With the motto ‘In quest of enlightened community’, HANS began its journey on October 12, 2005 with a group of some young people. All its activities are run by some devoted and qualified neophytes who are very motivated to create an enlightened society. HANS wants to prove the truth that youths have the power to bring a good change in our society and pave the way for success.

HANS has several sides of its activities. This association is working towards bringing out the hidden qualities of the students. HANS provides training programs for its members & also works as a platform for the students who want to prove their talent. Through its activities, the organization has devoted itself towards creating some worthy citizens of Bangladesh who will make this country proud. It consists of four clubs for improving the skills of its members. The clubs are-

a) Computer Club
b) Organizers’ Club
c) Debating Club
d) Volunteers’ Club

HANS provides ample opportunities for the members so that they can successfully walk ahead towards having a career full of prosperity. Every Friday, members of HANS get together. Classes of Spoken English, Computer Club and Debating Club are held during that time. Sometimes there are short meetings about the activities. Members also share their opinions and suggestions for the improvement of HANS. Members of the Computer Club has designed the websites of some of the leading institution’s debating clubs.

Hans has a wide range of social activities. From the beginning, the aim of this student’s association was to work for the betterment of the backward section of people in our society. As a first step, HANS has started working for the Autistic people because of the lack of such organizations in Bangladesh excepting the few autistic schools that works for them. Firstly, the founder President of HANS Ishtiaque Shahriar took the attempt to work for the special children who are named as Autistic. Sad but true, autistic children are often considered as a burden in our society and sometimes by their own families. Family members often hesitate to expose them in front of the society because they are not treated well in our society as they are mentally disordered by birth. HANS with all its members expanded its helping hands towards those neglected autistic children quite a few times. This included visits to four of the autistic schools in Dhaka (AWF, SWID Bangladesh, SWAC, KALYANI) and merged with those innocent children. The members of HANS passed some enjoyable moments with them in order to deliver a sort of happiness among the autistic children at least for a little while. In the schools, some of the children recited poems, sang beautiful songs and drew extraordinary pictures in front of HANS’s members. It’s important to note that, some of the autistics are exceptionally gifted. One of the students at the schools could precisely tell the day if somebody asks him a specific date in any calendar year. One of them sings beautifully. HANS wants to bring those children with miraculous powers to be brought in front of all so that people can know about their extra ordinary abilities.

HANS has now more than 300 members and its activities are more widespread. It is led by its chairman Meer Sohrabul Hossain Sohail. The working committee works in the form of a panel which changes yearly. Panel for 2006-07 consists of Ahmed Tanwir (President) who is a student of DU (Pharmacy), Umar Abdullah (General Secretary), Sylvia Sekandar (Vice-President) and Sabbir Ahmed (Asst General Secretary).

As a part of raising awareness among general people about autism and autistic people, HANS already have arranged a cultural program called “Share With Innocence” on 21 July 2006 with the participation of the autistic children last year which was glorified with the presence of some honourable personalities. HANS is determined to organize same type of program this year as well. Besides, HANS has arranged a different type of ART EXHIBITION in Drik Gallery with the arts of some creative autistic children on 10-12 September 2007. HANS believes that autistic people have that capability to lead a normal life like others. The only need is a little assistance from their family, from the people around them. HANS is working to grow that little affection for the autistic people that will help them to go ahead and lead a natural life.