Tornado hits 3 villages in Lalmonirhat

200 houses damaged

11 June 2010, 18:00 PM

Our Correspondent, Lalmonirhat

A tornado lashed three villages in Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat at dawn yesterday, injuring eight people and damaging over 200 kutcha houses. Many trees were also uprooted during the tornado that swept over Shatibari, Durgapur and Gobdha villages. A tin-roofed structure housing seven classrooms of Shatibari Junior High School was fully damaged. The injured people were admitted to local health complex. They are Ahmed Hossain, 42, Nur Jahan Begum, 38, Salma Begum, 42, and Hamida Bewa, 60, of Shatibari village, Ajibor Rahman, 45, and Hanifa Bewa, 50, of Gobdha village, and Ajgor Ali, 30, and Dilbor Rahman, 36, of Durgapur village. Headmaster of Shatibari Junior High School Usuf Ali said teachers, staffs and over 200 students have been shocked as the classrooms were fully damaged. The students will face an uncertain future if government assistance is not available for repair of the classrooms. Achhiron Bewa, 75, a widow at Shatibari village, said, "The tornado has damaged my straw-made house. Now, I am staying under the open sky.” Sakhina Begum, 58, another victim, said the tornado has damaged the hut where she along with her two grandsons has been living. “But I cannot afford to repair the house,” she said. Durgapur UP member Abdus Salam said he and other UP members visited the tornado-affected areas in the morning and they officially informed the Aditmari upazila administration of the condition of the people and sought assistance for the affected families. Aditmari upazila education officer Manjurul Islam visited the damaged school in the morning.