Energy & Power

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A wake up call
Farid Hossain

Tropical Cyclone Sidr has revealed the weakness of the country's national power grid. It has shown how vulnerable the national power distribution system is to natural calamities like cyclone.

That the brunt of the November 15 cyclone was borne by the southwest coast is known to all. The devastation left by the vicious storm has really been horrific. The official death toll has crossed 3,200 with many more missing and presumed dead. The unofficial death toll is much higher and going by the estimate of the chairman of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society it could be as high as 10,000.

As the survivors scramble for food, clean water and medicines, the biggest challenge for the government is to feed about 3 million people, left hungry and homeless. The government may have to import up to 3.1 million tons of food to stay comfortable with the food situation. The chief adviser has already told the donors that Bangladesh will need at least US$1 billion for rebuilding damaged
embankment, schools, roads and bridges and for new forestation and construction of new cyclone shelters. That surely poses a huge challenge for the government.

Even though the cyclone mauled mainly the southwest coast, it has left its impact on the capital city, Dhaka. Dhaka has fallen in the path of the cyclone. High winds swept through Dhaka too. There was disruption in the power supply. That disruption also hampered Internet, telephones and water supply. The city of more than 10 million people was also battered.

A total collapse in the national power grid has left most part of the country in darkness and the people wondering what really happened. Was there any sabotage? Authorities are trying to find out the truth.

Investigation has been ordered.

What is, however, clear that the people suffered. It took hours for the authorities to restore the disrupted power supply. The cyclone caused a total disruption in the country's power grid. Power outage led to disruption in water supply and other utilities.

Disruptions to Internet connections and mobile phone network aggravated the situation and compounded the miseries of the people. Newspapers had to struggle to bring out regular issues. TV stations also suffered. Viewers were deprived of access to TV coverage because of the power disruption

Road communication was badly disrupted in many places as the cyclone uprooted many trees and blew away many roadside billboards. The worry of the users increased because of a breakdown in the mobile phone network. The people worried most about their families and relatives in the affected zone. Journalists faced tremendous problem in sending their reports as computers were down. Even BTV was hurt. Its transmission halted for three hours for the first time in its history.

Worst sufferers were the patients in clinics and hospitals where doctors had to use candles or torch lights to carry out crucial operation. In many hospitals some scheduled operations had to be cancelled. It was really a nightmare. In fact, hospitals and clinics, some relaying on generators, had to struggle hard to keep the services running.

There is no doubt that Cyclone Sidr was really vicious. Since its eye covered the entire territory of Bangladesh disruptions in services were expected all across the country. That does not, however, explain why it would knock off the national grid. There should not be any excuse for the nationwide outage-- not only for hours but for days. What happened in the power supply because of the cyclone is alarming. It should serve as a wake up call for all of us, especially the electricity authorities.