Evacuation begins in coastal areas as Cyclone Mora intensifies

Local administrations in coastal areas are evacuating people from the path of Cyclone Mora, which is expected to make landfall early Tuesday.

The cyclone is heading towards Bangladesh’s coast and has prompted the weather office to raise the warning by three notches to 'great danger' signal No. 10 in Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong. Weather forecasters upgraded the danger signal to No. 8 for Mongla and Payra.

Mayors, deputy commissioners, NGOs, local wings of the ruling Awami League and journalists held meetings in the areas on Monday to prepare for the evacuation.

They discussed ways and means to mitigate the possible loss of lives and property.

Local residents are constantly being asked to move to shelters. Red Crescent volunteers and medical units are on the alert while most government offices in coastal zones have cancelled staffers' leave, report bdnews24.com's district correspondents.

Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner Md Ali Hossain held a meeting with the local disaster management committee asking educational institutions to shut temporarily.

Some 538 shelters were ready to accommodate more than 500,000 people and provide dry food, he said.

A total of 88 medical units, 6,010 volunteers and 15,000 volunteers of the Red Crescent were on the alert.

A control room led by Executive Magistrate Saiful Islam would monitor the activities.

The Patuakhali administration held an emergency meeting earlier in the day when the district witnessed medium rainfall and drizzling intermittently.

DC Masumur Rahman said control rooms were set up and awareness campaigns were ongoing in different areas.

There were 351 cyclone shelters with storage of dry food and medicines. People in the offshore islands and lowlands have been asked to move there, he said.

Lakshmipur DC Homayra Begum issued an order to shift people to shelters, store food for consumption during and after disaster, and form a medical team and six control rooms.

Similar arrangements were in place in Chandpur for char dwellers, said DC Md Abdus Sobur Mondol.