ORIGINAL PAPER Human injuries caused by Bangladesh’s cyclone sidr: an empirical study Bimal Kanti Paul Received: 11 August 2009 / Accepted: 26 October 2009 / Published online: 25 November 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Abstract The objectives of this paper are to examine the extent of human injuries caused by Cyclone Sidr, which made landfall in Bangladesh coast on November 15, 2007, and report on the circumstances, type and causes of injuries, along with selected risk factors associated with such injuries. Relevant data was collected through a questionnaire survey administered among the cyclone victims. Semi-structured interviews with key personnel were also conducted to obtain information regarding the circumstances causing injuries and public response to care for the injured. The questionnaire survey data reveals that among the respondent families, 132 persons sustained various types of injuries. Since the respondent families comprised of 1,443 members, the injury rate was 9.15%. All injured victims were treated either onsite or in local hospitals. The most common types of injuries were soft-tissue injuries (cuts, bruises, and scrapes) and fracture/dislocations. The most common causes of injuries for survivors were associated with falling trees. Analysis of risk factors reveals that age is significantly correlated with injuries. Both formal and informal interviews suggest that injured persons and their family members were in general pleased with medical response they received from various sources. Several recommendations have been suggested to reduce future cyclone-related injuries in Bangladesh. Keywords Cyclone Sidr Á Coastal Bangladesh Á Injuries Á Risk factors Á Falling trees Á Wind-blown debris 1 Introduction Natural disasters produce a wide range of impacts, some of which have short- and/or long- term health consequences for the people in afflicted communities. These two health out- comes are either stress- or exposure-related (Bertazzi 1989). While it is often difficult to objectively measure stress-related health consequences, the most easily quantified disaster- related health impacts are deaths and injuries (Tierney et al. 2001). Natural disasters are B. K. Paul (&) Department of Geography, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA e-mail: bkp@ksu.edu 123 Nat Hazards (2010) 54:483–495 DOI 10.1007/s11069-009-9480-2