The cyclone Sidr looks ominous and scary. It will make landfall tomorrow. More than ten million people live in the river delta of Bangladesh where Sidr is headed. Shelters have a capacity for about half a million. Others are, I guess, evacuating on foot, if there even is a place to go and hide. Some may have decided to stay put beause they cannot travel or there is no place to go. The rains brought by the cyclone are likely to lead to flooding, endangering lives even more. All we can do right now is wait and hope that the cyclone and its aftermath do not kill as many people as some are estimating: 100,000! And we should be ready to immediately spring into action to help the survivors in whatever way is deemed most effective, most likely cash so Red Cross and other organizations can go in and start to rescue and take care of millions of displaced people.
It's hard to imagine the destructive force that Sidr brings. That kind of death toll would dwarf even the worst storm in recent U.S. history - Katrina. I hope that it is not as bad as predicted.