1.
LV ZOOM IN Mujib seated in helicopter.
0.08

2.
SV People waving and approaching helicopter
0.10

3.
SV ZOOM IN Mujib surrounded by crowd & out of helicopter
0.23

4.
CU Mujib interviewed: (SOUND)
0.42

5.
SV Mujib walks across tarmac with supporters (2 shots)
0.54

6.
SV Cheering crowds watch Mujib being garlanded (2 shots)
1.12

7.
GV Devastated village (4 shots)
1.31

8.
SV Villagers sheltering in makeshift hut
1.36

9.
SV Relief supplies distributed
1.42

10.
GVs Rain and wind around Dacca (4 shots)
2.08

11.
GV Men picking sections of school roof out of water
2.13

12.
GV Wrecked mosque and Korans being dried in sun (2 shots)
2.22

13.
GV Wrecked Mayor's hut
2.26

14.
SV Men rebuilding hut
2.34

15.
GV Village and villagers (2 shots)
2.40


TRANSCRIPT: REPORTER: "Whatever the towering problems he's up against, there's no doubting the popular support behind the new Prime Minister....He's here in this country town about seventy miles north of the capital to see areas hit by storms. Storms of every sort threaten Bangladesh but Sheikh Mujib breathes confidence.



"How is the situation now--how is the whole situation?"



SEQ. 4: MUJIB: "It's quite all right."



REPORTER: "....help coming from India?"



MUJIB: "Yes, coming from India."



REPORTER: "And security now?"



MUJIB "Absolutely quite all right...You can walk at night from here to Dacca. Nobody will disturb you...."



REPORTER: "People who have set all their hopes on him...Men who have grievances they want him to put right...Young men stirred by the cry of Independence, Liberation, Revenge against the enemy...Despite his confidence everyone knows Sheikh Mujib faces enormous problems if he's going to run this new country of nearly 79-million people. Food, transport, as well as armed rival factions, war criminals and disease. Tornadoes and rain-storms, wrecking homes and wiping out families, bring unwelcome added problems to the new State of Bangladesh. In this area a great wind devastated a strip of countryside in a sudden, swirling blast. More than fifty dead: the locals say two-hundred. Many injured, flimsy houses down. No food. Relief work's quickly started. Poverty, hunger--they're old friends here. part of the air you breathe almost. Natural disasters are the same. Back in the capital a day or so later another great storm strikes...this time over a wide area, with continuous, heavy rain. Of course it's the poorer areas which are worst affected; frail huts and houses collapse. The weakest take the blows. The corrugated iron roof was whipped off a school--and it'll be hard work getting straight again. A mosque has been hit...they dry the sacred Koran in the sun, and get on with the business of rebuilding. The district mayor's hut caught a real blast. From the Government the people get the promise that no matter what the problems nobody is going to be allowed to die of hunger. They will be helped. But they're being asked to show patience. 'In these early days of our new nation, Bangladesh' --they are told-'God is testing our forbearance with this violence of nature's forces.'"




Initials BB/1501 BF/PW/BB/1636



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Violent storms and tornadoes, lashing towns and villages in Bangladesh last week (April 1-5) killed at least 85 people, injured four-thousand, and piled massive new problems onto the State already beset by grave poverty, hunger and health problems.

The storms struck Dacca and the Mymensingh area, about 80 miles north of the capital. Life in the capital was paralysed by disruption of electricity supplies, houses destroyed and standing crops spoiled.

In the Mymensingh area about 50-thousand people were left homeless. The Prime Minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, toured the area and sanctioned immediate relief of 500,000 rupees (26-thousand, five-hundred pounds sterling).

The Natural disasters have struck Bangladesh at a time when Sheikh Mujib already has to contend with food shortages, transportation problems, armed rival factions, war criminals and disease.

Editors please note this film carries natural sound throughout, under a voiced commentary, and includes an interview with Sheikh Mujib in the Mymemsingh area. An alternative written commentary is also supplied.

SYNOPSIS: In Bangladesh fierce storms last week killed scores of people, injured thousands, and left tens of thousands homeless. The new country's Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman visited the Mymensingh area, eighty miles north of the capital Dacca, to comfort and encourage the victims of the disaster. Despite his country's troubles the Sheikh spoke confidently.

Despite his confidence, Sheikh Mujib faces enormous problems in running this new country of nearly 79-million people. People have set all their hopes on him. They look to him for answers to the vast problems of food shortage, poverty, communications difficulties, and disease; and an end to the rivalries of armed factions....
Now the tornadoes and violent rainstorms have added colossal new problems to the State of Bangladesh. At least forty-five people were killed in this area at the beginning of April--locals say: two-hundred. About ten-thousand huts were washed away...some fifty-thousand people left homeless...

Relief work starts quickly--natural disasters are not infrequent in this part of the country.

In Dacca, the capital, another storm struck during the week...Winds of 78 miles an hour and heavy rain paralysed life in the city--disrupting electricity supplies and telephones, destroying hundreds of thatch and mud houses, and causing damage to standing crops estimated at three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand rupees--more than 18-thousand pounds.

The corrugated iron roof was whipped off a school.....

A mosque was his--and the sacred books of the Koran have to be dried out in the sun...

The district mayor's hut was wrecked...

The Bangladesh Government has promised that no matter What the problems nobody will be allowed to die of hunger. But the people are asked to show patience. "God is testing our forbearance"--they are told--"through this violence of Nature's forces."