Severe cyclone batters Bangladesh coast, islands

Severe cyclone batters Bangladesh coast, islands

CHITTAGONG (Reuter): A severe cyclone in the Bay of Bengal lashed the Bangladesh coast yesterday, demolishing homes in its path and forcing the evacuation of more than half a million people.

There was no word on casualties as the cyclone pounded the Cox's Bazar and Teknaf areas, the country's southernmost tip, with winds of more than 200 kph, officials said.

The government ordered a disaster alert and evacuation efforts were in full swing as the cyclone hit the flat coastal region, threatening major economic damage, officials said.

"The core of the cyclone has yet to arrive but the wind speed has already passed 200 kph," district administrator in Cox's Bazar Ali Imam Majumder said, quoting the local weather office.

"Vast areas have been affected with electricity supply and telecommunications disrupted. Many houses have been destroyed and we can see sheets of tin from roof tops flying like tree leaves," Majumder told Reuters.

"Widespread damage is feared but we still don't have reports of casualties. Things will become clear once the storm is fully over," an eyewitness in Cox's Bazar, Nurul Islam, said.

Weather officials said the core of the cyclone could trigger a tidal surge of up to five metres.

Authorities fear high seas will inundate many low-lying areas in the South Asian country. The country's worst cyclone in 1991 killed at least 138,000 people and left millions homeless.

They said the main port city of Chittagong, to the north of Cox's Bazar, was also battered by winds of more than 100 kph. Electricity in the city had been disrupted.

More than 33,000 Red Crescent workers and other volunteers were helping the evacuation of people on the coast and offshore islands. Over 160,000 people were moved to shelters in Cox's Bazar district alone.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina canceled a planned trip to Spain Sunday night as the government put the army and navy on high alert for emergency rescue and relief operations.

Air force planes from Chittagong base were moved to Dhaka while the navy sent vessels to safety.

Telecommunications with Teknaf and Cox's Bazar had been cut. Local Red Crescent officials said Teknaf might have also suffered major damage.

The Saint Martin's island near Teknaf was under two meters of water. Several other islands had been battered by the cyclone and could be inundated, Red Crescent officials said quoting field volunteers.

Rice crops and shrimp beds were likely to be affected, agriculture officials said.

"There are no significant crops, except for some rice, in the fields now but shrimp cultivation may be badly affected," said the chairman of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation, M.A. Wadud.

The country earned US$265 million through exporting shrimps in 1995 and 1996, Masudur Rahman, a fishery ministry official, said. Fishermen have been warned not to leave port.

Dozens of ships berthed at Chittagong and Mongla ports were moved to outer anchorages, port officials said.

"We are taking this precaution so the ships do not collide during the storm and jam the channel by sinking," said Chittagong Port Harbormaster Quamrul Islam.

As state-run radio and television broadcast frequent storm warnings, hundreds of women held open-air prayers in Dhaka seeking divine protection.

People fleeing their homes or being moved to cyclone shelters had been asked to store drinking water, food and other essentials underground to help them after the cyclone.