The 1970 Bhola cyclone made landfall on the East Pakistan coastline during the evening of November 12, around the same time as a local high tide, killing an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people. Though the exact death toll is not known, it is considered the deadliest tropical cyclone on record.
A week after the landfall, President Khan conceded that his government had made “slips” and “mistakes” in its handling of the relief efforts for a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the disaster.
A statement released by eleven political leaders in East Pakistan ten days after the cyclone hit charged the government with “gross neglect, callous indifference and utter indifference“. They also accused the president of playing down the news coverage. On November 19, students held a march in Dhaka in protest of the speed of the government response and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani addressed a rally of 50,000 people on November 24, where he accused the president of inefficiency and demanded his resignation.
This is one of the first times that a natural event helped to trigger a civil war.