'Monsoon risk' to cyclone victims

Many families still live in makeshift homes

More than 1.3m people affected by the Bangladesh cyclone are still living in temporary shelters as the monsoon rains approach, global charity Oxfam warns.

Hundreds of thousands of families live under plastic sheeting, tarpaulin and other basic shelter that leaves them at the mercy of the elements, Oxfam says.

Cyclone Sidr struck in November, killing more than 3,500 people and destroying millions of homes.

Scores of villages and paddy fields were hit and power and water supplies

Oxfam says it has spent $7m on supporting 193,000 people in five of the worst-affected coastal districts.

"More than 1.3m people are facing terrible monsoon weather with completely inadequate shelter," says Heather Blackwell, head of Oxfam in Bangladesh.

"Having suffered from the elements once, they could soon suffer again. It is vital that the Bangladeshi government and the international community - including the UN - urgently devise a better plan for giving these people proper shelter."

Oxfam quotes estimates by the Bangladeshi government and by aid agencies that show some 265,000 families need better temporary shelter.

Oxfam says the cyclone victims could suffer again

In December, Bangladesh's caretaker government said it needed around $2bn in foreign aid to rebuild the battered infrastructure and economy of the southern coastal region, as well as replacing destroyed crops.

Aid has poured in from around the world, from students collecting coins on the streets of Dhaka's sprawling university campus to international relief agencies.

The World Food Programme promised to feed 2.2m people for the next six months and the World Bank made $250m available to the government.

Dozens of aid agencies have also been involved in planning for longer-term rehabilitation of the affected.