November 19, 2007 (LPAC)--Bangladesh faces food shortages and outbreaks of disease in wake of Tropical Cyclone Sidr, it is reported by Bloomberg today. “Medical supplies are not reaching the needy as roads and telecommunications are cut off,” Wahida Bashar Ahmed, ActionAid International's emergency coordinator for Bangladesh, said by telephone from the capital, Dhaka. “Drinking water is scarce and people have moved away from cyclone shelters to their devastated homes. If we are not able to reach them in at least three days the situation will go from bad to worse.''

Deaths due to the cyclone could hit 15,000 according to aid agencies that are on the scene. The Bangladesh Red Crescent has recovered 3,000 bodies so far, but cannot reach many towns and villages except by helicopter. One million families have been displaced, and some estimate that as many as 15 million people are facing a health crisis in the region, the Telegraph reports.

Bangladesh periodically suffers catastrophic damage from storms. This can only be remedied by a crash program for flood and water-control infrastructure in the region, as Lyndon LaRouche has emphasized for decades.