By Xinhua
Dhaka : Bangladesh has sustained an estimated loss of some $929 million or 65 billion taka in cyclone Sidr which devastated the country recently, local newspaper The Daily Star reported Sunday.
The estimated figure will further increase once the government updates data in the final report of devastation, economists at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) said, and added that the country would take years to overcome the ravages of the cyclone.
The country’s economic think-tank made the initial estimation of loss on the basis of data available from the ministry of food and disaster management.
The CPD calculated the loss of paddy at $500 million or 3500 billion taka, roads and bridges at $ 157 million (11 billion taka), houses at $ 107 million (7.5 billion taka) and loss of trees at $71.4 million or 5 billion taka.
“But the figures might shoot up significantly as the ministry is updating the data on a daily basis,” Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of CPD, was quoted as saying.
He said they had to depend on government data since it is almost impossible to collect the data from the field, with limited resources.
Abul Barakat, another economist with CPD, said cyclone Sidr had affected more than 40 million people across the country and 10 million of them lived in the coastal zone.
“It will take years to recover from the loss,” he said.
The southwestern Sundarbans, the world largest mangrove forest, will take at least 40 years to recover from the destruction of the cyclone. He also said psychological trauma and the cost of treating injuries should also be included in the calculation of the property loss.
The economists said Sidr left thousands of people economically ruined in the coastal zone. Many people do not have any means left for earning a single paisa since the cyclone had ravaged the coastal belt of the country.
In many cyclone hit areas, all business activities are at a complete halt, causing great economic loss, the economists said, adding that they fear it might also cause inflation and reduce the growth of gross domestic products (GDP).
Besides, resources from Dhaka have to move towards the coastal zone to tackle the immediate crisis, which will also hamper the economic growth, they said.