The category four cyclone Sidr hit the coast of Bangladesh late on Thursday, with winds reaching 240 km (150 miles) per hour, ripping up trees and leveling houses, as well as causing damage to crops, transport routes, communication and power supply lines. Many coastal districts were flooded.
"The cyclone hit 103 sub-districts, affecting 2.75 million people of about 844,000 families. The storm also killed 242,000 livestock and completely destroyed crops on 18,122 acre (about 7,339 hectares) land," Xinhua said.
President Vladimir Putin has conveyed condolences to the Bangladesh cyclone victims, the Kremlin press office said on Sunday.
Cyclones kill hundreds of people in Bangladesh annually. However, following devastating cyclones in 1970 and 1991, which claimed half a million and 140,000 lives respectively, the south Asian country introduced a more effective early warning system and built a better network of shelters.
