DHAKA, Jun 22, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The economic loss from cyclone Aila, which hit Bangladesh's southwestern coast on May 25, is estimated at 18.85 billion taka (about 269.28 million U.S. dollars), the country's disaster management minister said on Monday.
"The cyclone caused 18.85 billion taka loss, including losses due to damage of rural infrastructures, schools, crops and livestock," Bangladesh's Food and Disaster Minister Abdur Razzak told reporters here on Monday.
He said cyclone Aila has damaged about 1,000 km of embankments, thousands of houses, livestock and other properties in eight districts in coastal areas of the country.
Meanwhile, Secretary of the Food and Disaster Management Ministry Mokhlesur Rahman on Monday said the amount of loss will increase further as some ministries are yet to complete their assessment on cyclone Aila losses.
The cyclone Aila formed in Bay of Bengal battered Bangladesh's southwestern coast on May 25, leaving at least 179 people dead and over three million affected in about a dozen of districts in the coastal areas.
According to report of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management, over 500,000 houses and some 7,000 km road and crops on more than 123,000 hectares of land were damaged either completely or partially.
Razzak said the government has engaged Water Development Board, army and the local administration in repairing works of the damaged embankments and road.
Cyclone Aila was the biggest natural calamity in the South Asian delta country after the powerful cyclone Sidr hit the country's southwestern coastal belt on Nov. 15, 2007, leaving more than 4,000 people dead or missing.
The Bangladeshi government early this month has sought assistance from development partners and NGOs to support its efforts in post-cyclone rehabilitation of the affected people.