Bangladesh has faced cyclones before

While the death toll is still more than anyone would want to see anywhere in Bangladesh, this time in some areas there was a better evacuation done which is believe to have resulted in lives saved. On the Weather Guys Blog they share some of the history of previous disasters to strike that area:

The 150-mph winds from Tropical Cyclone Sidr make it the second-strongest storm to hit Bangladesh since records began in 1877, the Weather Underground reports. Only an unnamed April 1991 cyclone, which killed 140,000 people as it lashed the country with 155-mph winds, was stronger.

Bangladesh is no stranger to devastating cyclones. Almost 37 years ago to the day, the storm surge from the intense Bhola cyclone killed an astonishing 500,000 people in East Pakistan (which is now Bangladesh). This was one of the deadliest single natural disasters in modern times. By comparison, the 2004 Asian tsunami killed about 225,000 people.