DHAKA, Bangladesh, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The World Food Program is air dropping emergency food supplies to hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis stranded by Cyclone Sidr.
Sidr, which ravaged Bangladesh last week, killed more than 3,000 people by official count, making it the most ferocious Bay of Bengal-spawned storm to hit the low-lying country in more than two decades. The Red Crescent estimates the death toll could go as high as 10,000.
A United Nations news release said thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed, and wide swaths of cropland have been wiped out. Hundreds of thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes and now depend on aid for basic necessities.
CNN reported Tuesday the latest death toll stands at 3,114. The report said many families were burying victims in common graves, lacking male help to dig individual graves.
In the past, death tolls from such storms would run in the hundreds of thousands, but improved warning systems and shelters led to fewer deaths this time.
Xinhua news agency reported the Bangladeshi government received international aid pledges totaling $140 million.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said two Navy ships, loaded with supplies and helicopters, are heading to the area.
