Sidr, currently a Category 4 storm, is on a "really similar track" as Cyclone Bhola, a storm that devastated the region in 1970, CBC meteorologist Nick Czernkovich said.Bhola, which made landfall as a Category 3 cyclone, was the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, resulting in the deaths of more than 500,000 people.
The stories above are from the Canadian media and a U.S. science blogger. CNN has a brief story up. http://www.cnn.com/2... I've seen nothing on other major US media sites.
Here's a picture of the storm: http://scienceblogs....
A category 4-5 storm (this one is called Sidr) hitting low-lying Bangladesh will be a major human catastrophe.
But our press is so immersed in trivia (e.g., OJ being bound over for trial) that potential human disasters aren't much of a concern. Especially, when Americans or Western Europeans aren't involved.
Seriously, though, this storm could cause a disaster of incredible proportions. We should be moving right now to help, because Bangladesh is going to need it badly in a day or so...
It's going to hit sometime tomorrow. ***[M]aybe we should be urging our news networks to pay attention to the important news, our government should be getting ready for emergency assistance, and we should all be preparing to loosen those checkbooks and possibly offer what aid we can.http://scienceblogs....
The commenters on that site have made similar suggestions about how to get U.S. press attention.
It's difficult for the US media to make room for trivial events with major breaking stories on the latest OJ trial or Paris Hilton hoax. This would break into the headlines if there was a swimsuit model that was caught in a natural disaster.
This just makes it a category 5, possibly headed straight for a region between Calcutta (which is now called Kolkata) and the Bangladeshi capital. http://www.telegraph...
If you go to http://www.cnn.com/ you'll see that the cyclone story finally makes the top list, at #6. The top CNN story is about a strong wind storm causing minor injuries to three kids in Tennessee.
Ah, our wonderful media...
****snark****
About 10:20 am.
At least 500 trawlers with over 3000 fishermen have been missing since cyclone Sidr, packing winds upto 240 kms, made landfallhttp://www.hindu.com...
Why the "low" toll, at least so far? A bit of luck -- the storm hit land at a large mangrove forest. Not so good for the Bengal tigers there perhaps, but good for humans.
But the big deal was that the Bangladeshi evacuation and shelter plan seems to have worked. 650,000 coast residents were in shelters. The government was firm in its determination not to have large scale disasters like in the past.
By the way, the DC-based weather guy, Chris Mooney, who alerted the science bloggers, got his prediction right on the nose. He said the storm would not weaken as it approached land, and in fact winds were in the 140-150 mph range when Sidr hit the coast.