Azad Majumder
Authorities in Bangladesh said on Monday they were working to ensure social distancing in cyclone shelters if an evacuation was needed due to the strike of cyclonic storm Yaas.
Ahmadul Haque, Director of Cyclone Preparedness Programme, said that they were not taking any chance though it appeared that Bangladesh might not require evacuating any people due to the cyclone.
“The diameter that we are seeing of this cyclone, it may hit only a small area in the southwest part of our country,” Ahmadul told The Business Post.
“We may not require a massive evacuation, or we may not require an evacuation at all. But science and nature often conflict and a 100 per cent prediction cannot be made. Anytime it (the cyclone) can change the direction. If it moves rightwards, it will hit our country,” he said.
According to the latest weather bulletin, the storm was centred about 655 km southwest of Chattogram port, 590 km south- south west of Cox’s Bazar port, 630 km south of Mongla port, 585 km south of Payra port at 6:00pm.
Due to favorable atmospheric condition, the cyclone is likely to intensify further, move north northwestwardly and may reach north west bay of north Odisha-West-Bengal-Khulna coast on May 26 early morning, said the Met Office.
Ahmadul said they have started taking preparation to face the disaster from May 22.
“Mostly, we are making people aware of the disaster, keep the volunteers ready and prepare the cyclone shelters so that we can quickly evacuate people. We are also repairing the roads leading to cyclone shelters,” he said.
“The biggest task at our hand is now reducing the density of people so that some distancing could be maintained in cyclone centres. We are selecting three times higher cyclone shelters than the ones we have,” he said.
According to the official, Cyclone Preparedness Programme has currently 4,073 centers in 19 coastal districts. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated another 225 cyclone shelters on Sunday.
Ahmadul said that they were also turning schools and colleges in different districts into a makeshift shelter to ensure social distancing.
The districts also include some non-coastal areas, which usually remain unaffected by cyclone and tidal wave but has come under focus recently due to climate change.
In May 2020, districts like Jashore, Jhenaidah were badly affected by Cyclone Amphan, which took an unconventional route after making landfall near Sathkhira coast.
Ahmadul said they have kept 76,000 volunteers ready to help them evacuating people if needed.
In addition to regular volunteers, Ahmadul said, they were also expecting support from members of Bangladesh Scouts, volunteers of Red Crescent Society and members of Ansar and VDP.
“If we see the cyclone is going to hit our country, we can complete evacuation six to 10 hours,” he said.
