Bangladesh readies cyclone shelters in seven districts as storm nears coasts

Cyclone shelter centres have been kept ready in the seven coastal districts as the cyclonic storm Bulbul continues to move towards the country’s coastline.

“Adequate measures have been taken to tackle the disaster that is likely to batter the coastline on Saturday night,” said State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Enamur Rahman at a news briefing at the Secretariat on Friday afternoon.

However, there is no possibility of major damage to the crops, he said.

Around 56,000 volunteers are ready to provide help, he said adding that preparations are in place to evacuate people to safe shelters before the cyclone makes landfall.

Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Barguna, Patuakhali, Pirojpur and Bhola districts are considered most vulnerable to the cyclone. A total of 2,000 packets of dry food have already been supplied to the areas, according to the state minister.

The officials and employees under the Water Development Board in these districts have been asked to stay in the workplace so that they could take part in emergency rescue mission in the event of cyclone causing any havoc, said the WDB in a statement.

“All officials and employees of the coastal districts must be at the workplace from Nov 7 to 16 to take immediate action following the cyclone,” it reads.

Bulbul has intensified into a ‘very severe’ cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal and is moving towards the Bangladeshi coast with a wind speed of up to 140 kilometres per hour, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.