In the end, from what you read in the comfort of your armchairs, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. That was the verdict passed on the damage done by Mahasen, who spared Bangladesh the full force of its fury. That meant the emergency operation run from Dhaka didn’t have to be quite as massive and urgent, but when you visit the site affected by the cyclone, you realize just how relative these terms are. For those uprooted and those who lost everything, the damage hits very close to home. And you are helpless in the face of it.