Hundreds of thousands flee cyclone

DHAKA: Cyclone Mora hit Bangladesh yesterday, packing winds of up to 135kph, damaging thousands of homes as more than 300,000 people fled coastal villages.

The severe storm made landfall on the coast between Cox’s Bazar and the main port city of Chittagong at 6am, the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said.

No immediate casualties were reported but there was major damage in many towns and villages.

Authorities moved more than 300,000 people to cyclone shelters after raising the weather danger alert to its highest level as the storm approached. Authorities had planned to make 1 million people leave their villages.

“They have been evacuated to at least 400 cyclone shelters, schools and government offices in the coastal areas,” said Golam Mostofa, the senior official coordinating the evacuation.

Mr Mostofa said there were no reports of casualties so far.

But there are fears for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who are living in flimsy shanty homes after fleeing violence or persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.

There are 300,000 Muslim Rohingya living in and around Cox’s Bazar district, where one official said the storm has caused widespread damage.

Community leader Abdus Salam said there had been no attempt to evacuate them to cyclone shelters.

“Around 20,000 houses in the Rohingya refugee camps have been damaged by the storm,” he said. “In some places, almost every shanty home made of tin, bamboo and plastic has been flattened. Some people were injured, but no one is dead.”

Anwarul Naser, a senior district official, said several thousand houses had been damaged in the area, most of them mudbuilt structures.

He said efforts to assess the full extent of the damage had been hampered by disruption to telecoms links.

The weather office has said the cyclone could unleash a 1.7m-high storm surge around Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong and several other coastal districts on the Bay of Bengal which are home to millions of people.

“It hit St Martin’s Island with wind speed of 114kph and Teknaf at 135kph,” BMD director Shamsuddin Ahmed told reporters.

The local administration has called in all fishing vessels and advised them to remain anchored, while the Chittagong port authority has stopped all traffic.