§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Prime Minister whether Her Majesty's Government made any offer to the Bangladeshi authorities to provide technical assistance in predicting storm surges in the Bay of Bengal.
§ The Prime MinisterNo. This is an area where the United States of America is the principal donor. Bangladesh's cyclone early warning system was established in the 1970s when a satellite ground station was installed in Dhaka by a Bangladeshi organisation, the Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation. The ground station has subsequently been upgraded through a project funded by the Office of the United States Foreign Disaster Assistance and implemented by the National 183W Aeronautics and Space Administration. United States aid assistance has continued for this activity and now totals excess of US$6 million.
The Bangladesh authorities issued warning of the cyclone two days before it struck and an estimated 350,000 people were evacuated to anti-cyclone shelters.