Bangladesh has shifted more than 2 million of its people to storm shelters to protect them from the super cyclone Amphan. The country has deployed the military forces to deal with the upcoming situation. This super cyclone is set to make a landfall on the coastal districts of the country. It was said by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina.
Dacca: Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said that Bangladesh has shifted more than 2 million of its people to storm shelters to protect them from the onslaught of the super cyclone Amphan. This cyclone is expected to make its landfall on the coastal districts of the country any time during the day.
The Bangladeshi authorities have raised the alert level to great danger. It is for some districts in the country. Amphan is the most powerful cyclonic storm since the cyclone Sidr, that hit the country in the year 2007 and killed about 3500 people. Amphan is approaching the country’s coastline with amazing speed.
Prime Minister Hasina told a meeting of the National Disaster Management Council (NDMC) formed to review the preparations in facing the possible assault of the super cyclone. “We have the preparations (to face cyclone Amphan). We are taking all possible measures that we should adopt for protecting the lives and properties of the people from the cyclone,”
Hasina was quoted as saying”Twenty lakh people have so far been evacuated to the cyclone centres as part of the prior preparation. As many as 13,241 cyclone shelter centres have already been opened to this end,”
The Army, Navy and air Force of Bangladesh has made its preparations to tackle the super cyclone Amphan. This cyclone has moved within 400 kms of Bangladeshi coast. It is expected to make a landfall on Wednesday evening, as reported by Bangladesh News Agency.
This cyclone is expected to make a landfall at the Bangladeshi coastal line at around 6 PM on Wednesday evening. Enamur Rahman, the State Minister for disaster management and Relief reported this matter.
The Bangladeshi authorities began to evacuate about 2.2 million people on Tuesday itself. They were moved to storm shelters to avoid casualties and missing incidences.
The Bangladesh Navy has deployed 25 ships as a part of a three tier effort to conduct rescue operations during emergency situation. It is also looking after the relief and medical operations in the immediate aftermath of the super cyclone, as reported by the news agencies.
Two maritime petrol aircraft and two helicopters were also at the alert to conduct search operations over the Bay of Bengal and its coastal districts. It was reported by the Inter service Public Relation Directorate or ISPR.
The Bangladesh Army has prepared 18,400 packets of relief materials and has formed 71 medical teams. About 145 disaster management teams with special equipment are also put on alert and can be deployed at a short notice. It is as per the reports of ISPR. The army aviation group can also join this rescue operation, as said by the report.
The Bangladesh air force will assess the possible damages, along with medical, relief and rescue operation, using six transport aircrafts and 22 helicopters, as reported by ISPR.
In the meantime, the Bangladesh Metrological Department has advised the government on Wednesday to hoist the Great danger signal Number 10 on ten coastal districts, as super cyclone Amphan is moving closer to the Bangladeshi coast, as reported by Bangladesh News Agency.
The coastal districts of Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Jhalokathi, Pirozpur, Barguna, Patuakhali, Bhola, Barishal, Laxmipur, Chandpur and their offshore islands and chars will come under grave danger signal Number 10, as reported.
The meteorologists said that the largest mangrove forest of the world, Sundarbans, was most likely to absorb the main brunt of onslaughts to be caused by Amphan. It has done so for many times from centuries and it always protected human lives from casualties.
“The Sundarbans always absorbed the brunt of cyclones whichever hit the coastlines alongside the Bangladesh-India, we expect the forest to face the initial impact of Amphan like foot soldiers this time as well,” Bangladesh’s Meteorology Department Director Shamsuddin Ahmed told reporters on Tuesday.