held an emergency Cabinet meeting Saturday to assess the disaster and discuss recovery issues . He said the extent of the cyclone 's damage may be much worse because emergency relief had not been able to reach remote areas . The government has identified the 12 worst districts -- all of them located on the southern coast -- out of the 23 affected by the cyclone , Munaim said . See victims pick up the pieces after the storm '' The Bangladeshi air force , army and navy are working to provide shelter for the many people who have been displaced . Power is still out in much of the country but it is being restored . Watch how the cyclone spawns a large relief effort '' Vince Edwards , national director of the relief agency World Vision in Bangladesh , said the high wind speeds of Cyclone Sidr have laid waste to the all-important rice crop and caused a huge loss of livestock . He said 280,000 families have been rendered homeless by the cyclone , but many have been able to get shelter from family members . World Vision is deploying 135 staffers and 7,000 volunteers to provide
DHAKA , Bangladesh -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- More than 1,700 people have died in Bangladesh after a devastating tropical cyclone ripped through the western coast of the country , and the toll is expected to rise , a government spokesman tells CNN . Families stand amid the wreckage caused by the cyclone Friday in southern Bangladesh . Brig. Gen. Qazi Abedus Samad , director of operations for the country 's armed forces , told CNN Saturday the toll had reached 1,723 , and the figure is expected to rise . As flood waters recede , aid workers say they expect to find scores more bodies when remote villages are finally reached and the counting is done . They face debris-blocked roads , no electricity and almost nonexistent communications . In addition to the dead , another 15,000 people have been injured . Thousands of people have been displaced and many are still missing . Cyclone Sidr , with sustained winds of at least 131 mph -LRB- 210 kph -RRB- , made landfall Thursday night along the western coast of Bangladesh near the border with India , unleashing floodwaters . Government spokesman Fahim Munaim told CNN by telephone that the government