(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-19 15:42

He said a helicopter had dropped packages of food but he had received little assistance. Mobs swarm below the helicopters every time one is spotted.

"I've been here waiting for hours for something to eat," he said. "What I've got so far are a few cookies. Not enough."

Government officials defended the relief efforts and expressed confidence that authorities are up to the task.

"We have enough food and water," said Shahidul Islam, the top official in Bagerhat, a battered district close to Barguna. "We are going to overcome the problem."

Disaster Management Secretary Aiyub Bhuiyan met Sunday with representatives from the United Nations and international aid groups to discuss the emergency response.

"We have briefed them about what we need immediately," Bhuiyan told reporters.

The government said it has allocated $5.2 million in emergency aid for rebuilding houses. Many foreign governments and international groups have pledged to help, including the United States, which offered $2.1 million and the United Nations, which promised $7 million.

A US military medical team is already in Bangladesh and two Navy ships - the USS Essex and USS Kearsarge - each carrying at least 20 helicopters and tons of supplies, will be made available if the Bangladesh government requests them, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

The German government offered $731,000, the European Union with $2.2 million and the British government with $5 million. France pledged $730,000 in aid, while the Philippines announced it would send a medical team.

The Rome-based World Food Program was rushing in food, and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society was sending thousands of workers to stricken areas.

Many evacuees crowded onto ferries and trudged down sludge-filled roads to return home for the first time since the storm hit Thursday.

"I have had no news of my family since Wednesday, as the mobile phones are down," said Golam Rasul, who was traveling to see his mother and brother in Bagerhat district.

Many survivors returned to find their bamboo-and-straw huts flattened, their roofs missing, their crops ruined.

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