The Bangladeshi government will continue to feed millions of cyclone-hit people in the country's southern coastal areas until they return to their normal life, Food and Disaster Minister Abdur Razzak said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press briefing here on Tuesday, Razzak said, "We' re hopeful to continue to feed cyclone victims until they return to their normal life and overcome the emerging situation with support of all."

"The government will continue its all out efforts to support the cyclone-hit people and power the country's capacity through development of permanent means to better combat natural calamities like cyclone Aila," he said.

The minister confirmed that 179 people died when cyclone Aila battered the country's southwestern coast on May 25 and said the death toll is unlikely to go up any more.

Quoting the official report of the control room under his ministry, Razzak said nearly 775,915 families and some 3.42 million people of 72 sub-districts including severely damaged eight under 11 districts of the country were affected by the shock of cyclone.

He said some 7,153 people were injured in the disaster while 124,724 others are still living in shelters, where nearly 1 million people had stayed earlier.

"We've planned to establish 2,000 more cyclone shelters. There are now 2,200 cyclone shelters in the country," Razzak said. He earlier admitted that limited shelter centers virtually increased the death toll and related damages.

Razzak said the government will approach the donor agencies so that they extend support to develop permanent means to better combat natural calamities in the future.

He said shelters will also be established for domestic animals. According to official report, over 1 million domestic animals were killed in the cyclone which also hit West of Bengal, India.

Cyclone Aila formed in the Bay of Bengal battered Bangladesh's southwestern coast on May 25 at a speed of 70-90 kilometers per hour with 10-12 feet (about 3-3.7 meters) tide water, leaving nearly 600,000 houses damaged either completely or partially.

According to the official report, nearly 6,444-km road, 1,493- km embankments and crops on about 305,698 million acres (about 123, 807 hectares) of farmland were completely or partially damaged.

This was the biggest natural calamity in the South Asian delta country after cyclone Sidr hit the country's southwestern coastal belt on Nov. 15, 2007, leaving more than 4,000 people dead or missing.

Razzak said the government has already disbursed over 175 million taka (about 2.5 million U.S. dollars) for distribution among affected people so that they can repair or rebuild their houses at the earliest.

"We've allocated 15,150 tons of rice to the cyclone victims", he said, adding local administrations informed him that there is no shortage of food or medicine in the affected areas.

The food minister said diarrhea situation in the cyclone-hit areas, which according to local media report took severe turn, remained under control following measures to provide sufficient drinking water and medicine.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2009)