Recalling the Super Cyclone of 1970
by Kamal Uddin Sultan
How ominous the day was. None could imagine what a tragic and terrible situation awaited lakhs of people in the southern districts of Bhola, Patuakhali, Barguna, Barisal, Bagerhat, Laxmipur and Coxs Bazar on the night of November 12, 1970.
An estimated five lakh people in the coastal districts, which were sub-divisions at the time, perished when a powerful cyclone hit that night _ with little prior warning.
I was 13-years-old and a class-8 student in Bhola. Forty-five years have passed since, but I still remember that fateful day. The sky was clouded and it was windy and raining. But we expected the dark day to pass soon.
It was the holy month of Ramadan, and almost every night we experienced rain and gusty wind, but the sky would clear and moon come out shining.
That night, however, the speed of the wind kept on increasing, and there was no stopping the rain.
Regretfully, no clear warning was given of the disastrous weather condition brewing that day by the relevant authorities or the weather department of the then Pakistan government. Pakistan Radio announced a great danger signal, but it meant little to locals, who only recognised a No 1 warning signal as the greatest possible threat.
No evacuation took place and no one was asked to seek shelter or return to the mainland. Besides, there were no purpose-made cyclone shelters in those days.
As the day continued to be overcast with squally winds, local people became concerned, especially those living in the low-lying char areas of Bhola, and they prayed to Allah for safety.
When the cyclone finally made landfall, in Bhola sub-division alone about three lakh people, including 15,000 on Monpura, died in just one night.
Locals claim that half the population of isolated Monpura island was washed away that night. A large number of people in the char areas managed to survive by climbing and holding on to trees, along with desperate snakes, witnesses said. Some tied their children to swaying palm trees with gamchha (cloth towel) to stop them from getting blown away.
Mofizur Rahman, principal of Mowlobirhat Hossainia Senior Madrassa at Ilisha union in Bhola sadar, recalls how around 4am, a tidal wave _ about 10 to 12 foot high _ came ashore and submerged thousands of small homesteads as well as acres of cropland.
Tariqul Islam, 75, of Ilisha village, said it appeared as if the waters of the whole Meghna River had come ashore to claim the plain land.
Abu Taher, 82, then the Bhola correspondent of Sangbad and the now-defunct Daily Pakistan, said he and his family somehow passed the whole day, and around 11pm, found that the tidal surge had flooded Bhola town. He added that some three days after the disaster, volunteers from Bhola town, led by Tofail Ahamed, then an aspirant in the upcoming general election, collected materials locally and started relief operation in Daulatkhan and Monpura.
Moreover, Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman, who was also running for office, came to Bhola the same day on a launch loaded with relief goods and distributed those among the affected people of Daulatkhan.
The next morning, led by Mosharraf Hossain Shajahan, another election candidate, a group of local volunteers, identified as Abu Taher, Anwar Hossain , Fazlul Kader, Mojnu Mollah and some others went to Ratanpur Bazar, five kilometre from Bhola town, and buried about 300 bodies in a mass grave.
Habibur Rahman,75, president of Bhola Press Club, said hundreds of people floated away in the tidal surge that night, some went as far as India, where they were rescued and returned home after months.
But it was a matter of great regret that the then Pakistan government only started relief operations officially in the devastated areas after 10 days of the disaster.
Gias Uddin, 70, a retired upazila palli unnayan (rural development) officer, said about 40 people in their Daulatkhan home died that night. He added that there were no people left in some houses to receive relief material in Charfassion and Monpura after the storm.
Local elderly people said about five thousand people lived in the remote Charkukri Mukri and Dhal Char near the Bay of Bengal, but there was no sign of human beings, livestock or houses there after the cyclone. All the trees were uprooted, too.
In total, the cyclone totally damaged properties worth Tk 500 crore, including homsteads and standing crops.
Years later, more cyclones and tidal waves lashed the southern coastal districts, most notably in 2007. That year, on November 15, a Category-5 tropical cyclone named Sidr lashed Patuakhali, Barguna and Jhalokathi districts, causing large-scale damage to property and standing crops, but human casualty was much less, somewhere between 3,500 amd 5,000.
Before Sidr hit, constant warnings were given over radio, TV, mobile phones, and even through megaphones by local villagers. Trained volunteers evacuated almost six lakh people to cyclone shelters; otherwise the death toll would have been unimaginable.
Over the past two decades, early warning, evacuation and prompt relief operations have been highly developed in cyclone-prone along the countrys coastline.
About 1,800 raised concrete buildings have been built in the coastal areas _ 650 of those in Bhola _ to shelter people and their livestock during disasters like cyclones, tidal surges or tsunamis.
The forest department has planted saplings and created mangroves in the coastal areas. These new forests protect millions of people from cyclonic storms, particularly in the char (shoal) areas of Bhola, Patuakhali, Barguna, Laxmipur and Chandpur.
On the other hand, six upazilas of Bhola are surrounded by 250 kilometres of flood protection embankment, which was constructed to protect homes and fields from tidal surges.
The writer is the Bhola correspondent of The Independent newspaper.
