Fear Haunts Survivor of ’91 Cyclone That Stole Family

When the sea becomes rough and the wind hisses in the palm trees, Mohammad Kamal moves fast. He unties the cow and three goats, frees the chickens and races for a cyclone shelter.

Five years ago, there was no shelter nearby when a ferocious storm roared in off the Bay of Bengal. He saved himself by clinging to a coconut tree for eight hours while a cyclone-driven tidal wave surged past him and swept 15 kinsmen to their deaths.

“Whenever I hear a cyclone warning on the radio, I run to the nearest shelter,” said Kamal, 26. “And when the wind starts blowing and my hut rattles, the faces of my father, mother, brothers and sisters come back.”

Kamal thought his world would end that day in 1991. In his family, only Kamal, two younger brothers, a sister and two cousins survived.

As he plays with his 2-year-old daughter, Nahed, he talks of how they eke out a living. He has rebuilt a thatched house and acquired some livestock and a small fish pond.

After the cyclone, with no money to replant the tiny plot of ground that his father bought in 1987, Kamal took a job at a cable factory carrying 55-pound sacks of cement on his head--2 1/2 tons every day. He earns 35 taka a day, about 87 cents.

In 1991, Kamal was an energetic 21-year-old who enjoyed playing soccer on his village team. Today, he is slightly stooped from his heavy loads, and looks as if he has aged 15 years.

One brother, Solaiman, 24, took a job in Chittagong, the port city nine miles away. He now has a license to drive a truck, although he doesn’t have a regular job. When he works, he brings home money and a special treat, jelaibi--fried dough soaked in syrup.

Their brother, Hanif, now 14, is going to a Madrasa, an Islamic school.

Kamal’s biggest challenge is to get his sister, Parveen, married.

After the storm, Parveen showed signs of chronic depression. Kamal sold his Japanese wristwatch to buy her medicine, but she is no better. She does not go to school, and often just sits on the edge of the pond where her parents’ bodies were recovered after the cyclone.

“She is a very unhappy child and it is becoming a problem to marry her off,” Kamal said. “Also, I will need at least 35,000 taka [$875] for dowry and marriage expenses.”

That is 2 1/2 years’ salary for Kamal, although he supplements his income by selling milk from his cow, eggs from his chickens, tomatoes from his garden and fish from the sea.

“You know why we are selling so much of this food and not eating it ourselves? I am saving for Parveen,” Kamal said. “I am like her father now.”