WASHINGTON. Nov 10 The World Bank Thursday said it approved a 53 million dollar loan to Bangladesh to help the government rebuild and strengthen coastal embankments in the natural disaster prone coastal belt around the Bay of Bengal reports Reuter

Over the last 125 years more than 40 major cyclones have hit the coastal belt, with the 1991 cyclone alone killing more than 140.000 people, destroying 864.000 homes and damaging another 774.000

Since resources must be

diverted to provide immediate relief to the affected population and to restore damaged or destroyed facili ties, these natural calamities also exact a heavy economic toll, the bank said

The bank said coastal embankments have been poorly maintained and were/ breached in many locations in 1991 If they had been In better condition, the damage would have been much less severe. It said

The new project will fl nance the rehabilitation of selecting existing embank menu along the coastal belt

from Teknaf on the southeast lip lo Sharankola at the southeast border of the Ba^erhat district.

It will also Include the construction of new embank ments In areas where the ex isting embankments are subject to erosion

The bank said the project would benefit about 1.2 million people or 200.000 faml Ues living the project area

The loan, extended by the International Development Association, covers about 65 per cent of the total project coast of 87 8 million dollar