India, Bangladesh witness deadly cyclone storm

Eastern India and neighboring Bangladesh saw the worst cyclone to hit the country in over a decade on Wednesday as predicted earlier last week.

Officials in India’s Odisha and West Bengal states said Cyclone Amphan which moved inland at about 3 pm brewed for days at the Bay of Bengal before slamming into the region with powerful wind waves, tearing roofs, uprooting trees, bending electricity poles and shutting down power supply in some areas.

In Bangladesh, at least 2.4 million people in the most vulnerable districts, including Rohingya refugees, were evacuated to the over 1500 storm shelters provided, the country’s junior minister for disaster management, Enamur Rahman said.

“It has been challenging to evacuate people while maintaining distancing. We have doubled the number of the cyclone centres to ensure safe distancing and hygiene,” Rahman added.

The Homes minister in India, on the other hand, has lamented the challenge in housing thousands of evacuees as potential shelters served as Coronavirus quarantine centers.

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Although, buildings were provided and masks distributed, most villagers were unwilling to leave their homes due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“We have literally had to force people out of their homes, make them wear masks and put them in government buildings,” a senior police official in West Bengal’s capital, Kolkata said.

Amphan is the second super cyclone to form over the Bay of Bengal since 1999 when a super cyclone killed about 10,000 people as it slammed into India’s Odisha state.

Modern technology and government preparation have significantly contributed in reducing the number of casualties.

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