Cyclone threat: Thousands to be evacuated from B’desh, Myanmar

Dhaka: Authorities in Bangladesh and Myanmar prepared to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people Friday, warning them to stay away from coastal areas as a severe cyclonic storm called Mocha churned in the Bay of Bengal.

The storm is expected to roar in on Sunday with a wind speed of up to 160 kilometres per hour, gusting to 175 kph between Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Kyaukpyu in Myanmar, India’s Meteorological Department said.

Bangladesh is a delta nation of more than

160 million people and is prone to natural disasters such as floods and cyclones.

Evacuation of nearly 500,000 people is expected to start Saturday with 576 cyclone shelters ready to provide refuge to those moved from their homes along a vast coast, said Bangladesh government administrator Muhammad Shaheen Imran.

“This is the first cyclone system in the north Indian Ocean this year,” said Rajendra

Kumar Jenamani, a senior scientist at the Indian Meteorological

Department.