In Morelganj and Sharankhola upazilas alone, more than 90 percent of some 5,000 shrimp enclosures were destroyed by the storm surge.
Now shrimp farmers, many of whom have lost loved ones and their homes, face the added burden of huge debts incurred by their now destroyed businesses.
Shrimp production in disarray
BANGLADESH - Thousands of the shrimp farmers in the coastal belt are facing catastrophe as cyclone Sidr has ripped the heart out of one of the key production areas for the country's second largest export industry.