As the rescuers recovered more bodies on the fourth day after the catastrophic cyclone hit Bangladesh's southern and southwestern coastal part, the death toll by official count rose to 3,113.

 

Mukta Begum cries after losing her husband of only three months who was killed in a devastating storm at Bakerganj, south west of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, Nov. 17, 2007.

 

A press release of the country's Food and Disaster Management Ministry said that the death toll may go up as 2,062 people still remained missing in the affected areas.

 

About 4.1 million people survived the calamity but rendered homeless are living a subhuman life.

 

According to the release, a total of 300,000 houses were blown away while 626,000 damaged partially.

 

Standing crops on some 906,000 acres (about 367,000 hectares) were damaged either completely or partially, while some 250,000 domestic animals and poultry birds perished in the calamity.

 

The deadly cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh's coastal districts last Thursday night. It was one of the fiercest cyclones that had hit the region of Bangladesh in the 131 years between 1876 and 2007.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)