IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 842 
Expressing sympathy to and pledging the support of the House of Representa-
tives and the people of the United States for the victims of Cyclone 
Sidr in southern Bangladesh. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 4, 2007 
Mr. ROTHMAN (for himself, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. HASTINGS of Flor-
ida, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. MORAN 
of Virginia, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. BERMAN, Ms. 
BORDALLO, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. HONDA, Ms. MCCOLLUM 
of Minnesota, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. COHEN, Ms. 
JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, and Ms. LEE) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Af-
fairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing sympathy to and pledging the support of the 
House of Representatives and the people of the United 
States for the victims of Cyclone Sidr in southern Ban-
gladesh. 
Whereas on November 15, 2007, Cylcone Sidr hit the coast 
of southern Bangladesh with 155 mile-an-hour winds that 
smashed tens of thousands of homes, damaged roads and 
buildings, and caused a 16-foot tidal surge that ruined 
thousands of hectares of crops; 
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•HRES 842 IH 
Whereas early reports have branded the destruction from Cy-
clone Sidr as the worst in Bangladesh in 16 years; 
Whereas the resulting damage from the cyclone is estimated 
to have affected 4,000,000 people so far through evacu-
ation from and loss of their homes; 
Whereas over half of the affected internally displaced popu-
lation are children, an estimated 400,000 of whom are 
under the age of 5; 
Whereas Bangladesh’s Disaster Ministry now estimates that 
the homes of over 750,000 people were damaged or de-
stroyed; 
Whereas the death toll from the cyclone is already at 3,500 
and continues to climb; 
Whereas the Bangladesh Red Crescent has warned that the 
number of dead could ultimately be as high as 10,000; 
Whereas as the 5 districts in southern Bangladesh that were 
most drastically affected by the cyclone are Patuakhali, 
Barguna, Bagerhat, Barisal, and Pirojpur; 
Whereas hundreds of thousands of people in remote areas of 
Patuakhali and Barguna are currently cut off from relief 
operations, which has caused widespread starving and 
suffering from the lack of access to drinking water and 
medicines; 
Whereas one relief worker commented that Bagerhat looked 
like a ‘‘valley of death’’ in the days after the storm; 
Whereas an entire island in Barisal, another district of south-
ern Bangladesh, was submerged under at least 6 feet of 
water and houses were blown away by winds; 
Whereas in Pirojpur it is estimated that it will take at least 
1 week to restore the power supply; 
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Whereas the capital, Dhaka, which is located over 130 miles 
away from the devastated southern coastline, was also 
impacted by storm, losing access to power and water for 
days; 
Whereas a massive tidal wave that was caused by Cyclone 
Sidr hit the Sunderbans, the world’s biggest mangrove 
forest that is home to the endangered Royal Bengal tiger, 
leaving a wake of death and destruction that have caused 
experts to declare the forest an ‘‘ecological disaster’’; 
Whereas officials at the United Nations World Food Program 
have appealed for international aid to help save lives in 
Bangladesh, noting that food supplies have been severely 
disrupted by the cyclone and that there was risk of fam-
ine; and 
Whereas, due to the limited access to water supply and sani-
tation facilities that millions of Bangladeshis will face, 
health officials have begun warning against the serious 
possibility of cholera, dysentery, and other waterborne 
diseases: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) expresses its heartfelt sympathy for the vic-
tims of Cyclone Sidr, which has affected southern 
Bangladesh; 
(2) conveys its sincere support to the people of 
Bangladesh; 
(3) urges the United States Government to im-
mediately make available all appropriate assistance 
requested by the Bangladeshi authorities; and 
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(4) reaffirms its commitment to provide relief 
aid to the victims as the effects of the cyclone con-
tinue to unfold. 
Æ 
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