Shawdesh desk:

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday urged all to remain alert as cyclone ‘Yaas’ may hit Bangladesh in a couple of days.

“Another cyclone is coming, it’s just forming now (in the bay),” she said.

The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating as well as laying the foundation stones of 225 facilities of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry.

The programme was held at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium and the Prime Minister joined it virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.

Of the total facilities, 110 are Multipurpose Cyclone Shelters, 30 Flood Shelters, 30 District Relief and Disaster Management Information Centers and 5 Mujib Killas.

The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of 50 Mujib Killas across the country.

Sheikh Hasina said: “We’ve already started taking adequate precautionary measures [to face the cyclone]. Inshallah, we’ll remain cautious, we’ll be able to reduce risks.”

According to the meteorological office, a low-pressure area is brewing over the north Andaman Sea and the adjoining east-central Bay of Bengal, which could intensify into a cyclonic storm.

The storm is then likely to move north-westwards and reach the Odisha-West Bengal-Khulna coast around May 26 (Wednesday), according to the weather department.

Meanwhile, the government has prepared cyclone centres three times more than what was required in compliance with health guidelines, keeping in mind the coronavirus situation, to provide shelter to coastal people if Cyclone Yaas hits Bangladesh.

The Prime Minister said Bangladesh has to face various types of natural calamities like cyclone and flood due to its geographical location. “Sometimes manmade disasters also hit Bangladesh. We’ve to move on tackling all this. We’re moving one and we’ll keep on moving.”

Hasina said the government had taken numerous steps to face difficulties during every calamity and put emphasis on averting any possible loss of human lives.

Regarding deaths in thunderbolt strikes, the Prime Minister said once people used to plant palm-trees near their houses and that saved human lives naturally from thunderbolts.

“Once people had forgotten that. Now that sense of necessity (planting palm trees) has returned,” she said, mentioning that the government has taken all-out efforts to save people from any calamity.

Talking about the future generations, she said the government has taken the Delta Plan 2100 to make Bangladesh a developed country from the developing one.

A video on the contributions of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was also screened at the programme.

State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Dr Mohammad Enamur Rahman, Secretary of the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry Mohammad Mohsin also spoke at the programme.