Dear friend,

I don't know if you've been keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Risk this week, but there's an extremely nasty Category-4 storm about to make landfall on Bangladesh - Sidr is its name

Given the low-lying nature of the river deltas around that area and the extreme poverty of many of its residents, the effect of the storm is likely to be heavy.

And unlike the parts of the Yucatan that got whacked by Dean earlier this year, this is a highly densely populated area, with a terrible propensity to flood.

The storm is large and straddles to India on the left and Burma to the right

This is not a reinsurance storm of any significance, but a human one with a high potential for loss of life.

Spare a thought

UPDATE: HERE'S THE LATEST

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7097678.stm