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Thousands flee as cyclone nears Bangladesh
DHAKA (AFP) ? Weather forecasters in Bangladesh said a tropical cyclone would hit the country's southern coast late Friday, as thousands of people in the path of the storm were evacuated from coastal areas.
Cyclonic Storm Bijli was expected to intensify in the Bay of Bengal before making landfall near the southern port city of Chittagong.
"We have told everyone living in low lying areas to head to their nearest cyclone shelter," said Mohammad Manzoor Alam Bhuiyan, an administrator of one of the affected districts along the 300-kilometre (186-mile) coast.
Alam expected the more than 500 cyclone shelters in his region, which have a collective capacity of 500,000 people, to be full before the end of the day.
"We have arranged dry food and clean drinking water. There is a medical team on standby."
Boats had been brought to shore and fishermen were urged not to sail. Flights to and from Cox's Bazar and Chittagong were also suspended.
More than 3,500 people were killed during Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, the second-strongest storm recorded in Bangladesh.
In 1970, some half a million people died when a cyclone hit the impoverished country, while an estimated 138,000 people died as a result of a cyclonic surge in 1991.
The lower death tolls in 1991 and 2007 were attributed to a network of cyclone shelters and a warning system introduced after the 1970 disaster.
In neighbouring Myanmar, the military-run government's meteorological service urged residents of the country's western coastal region to stay away from the sea for two days until Bijli had passed.
"All vessels... in Myanmar waters along the Rakhine coast are advised to take precautionary measures by navigating away from the area exposed to the threat from rough seas and strong winds until 18 April 2009," it said.
In April last year Myanmar was hit by Cyclone Nargis, which left an estimated 138,000 people dead or missing and affected some 2.4 million people, mostly in its southwest delta region.
DHAKA (AFP) ? Weather forecasters in Bangladesh said a tropical cyclone would hit the country's southern coast late Friday, as thousands of people in the path of the storm were evacuated from coastal areas.
Cyclonic Storm Bijli was expected to intensify in the Bay of Bengal before making landfall near the southern port city of Chittagong.
"We have told everyone living in low lying areas to head to their nearest cyclone shelter," said Mohammad Manzoor Alam Bhuiyan, an administrator of one of the affected districts along the 300-kilometre (186-mile) coast.
Alam expected the more than 500 cyclone shelters in his region, which have a collective capacity of 500,000 people, to be full before the end of the day.
"We have arranged dry food and clean drinking water. There is a medical team on standby."
Boats had been brought to shore and fishermen were urged not to sail. Flights to and from Cox's Bazar and Chittagong were also suspended.
More than 3,500 people were killed during Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, the second-strongest storm recorded in Bangladesh.
In 1970, some half a million people died when a cyclone hit the impoverished country, while an estimated 138,000 people died as a result of a cyclonic surge in 1991.
The lower death tolls in 1991 and 2007 were attributed to a network of cyclone shelters and a warning system introduced after the 1970 disaster.
In neighbouring Myanmar, the military-run government's meteorological service urged residents of the country's western coastal region to stay away from the sea for two days until Bijli had passed.
"All vessels... in Myanmar waters along the Rakhine coast are advised to take precautionary measures by navigating away from the area exposed to the threat from rough seas and strong winds until 18 April 2009," it said.
In April last year Myanmar was hit by Cyclone Nargis, which left an estimated 138,000 people dead or missing and affected some 2.4 million people, mostly in its southwest delta region.
