Click to play videoDhamakhali (Sunderbans): Cyclone Aila's death toll has risen to more than 250. The cyclone has also devastated the ecologically vulnerable zone of the Sunderbans Delta in West Bengal.
Days after the calamity, most parts of Sunderbans still remain inaccessible.
Dhamakhali village in the Sunderbans Seltais a picture of complete devastation and whatever remains of it, isn't accessible by land any more.
The marooned village is accessible only by boat.
Dhamakhali is one of hundreds of villages submerged in the Sandeshkhali region of the Sunderbans. Like thousands of others the cyclone and the accompanying flood took every thing from Sabia Bibi, a resident of Dhamakhali.
"I hardly got any time to save my belongings (weeps)," says Sabia Bibi.
Roads, bridges and electricity poles all have been washed away. The cyclone has also swept away river embankments threatening large scale soil erosion.
Covering even a small distance on foot is now an ordeal and exodus of people from the region is a common sight.
While nature's fury has robbed them of their means of life and livelihood, inadequate government support isn't helping the cyclone victims any better to hold on in a losing battle.
"The relief supplies are getting distributed from the main road. But very little help is reaching our village," alleges cyclone victim Durjodhon Pramanik.
Government supplied relief materials get dumped five kilometres away. Officials admit it would take them at least three months to partially rebuild roads and restore power.
But the trauma of the cyclone would surely take much longer to heal.
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