At least 1,606 cyclone shelters have been prepared in Chattogram and Cox's Bazar districts to shelter over 10 lakh people as Cyclone Mocha has intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and may hit the southeast coast of Bangladesh by noon on Sunday.
Besides, all-out preparations have been made at all levels of the administration of these two districts, said Salim Hossain, deputy chief information officer at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.
As part of this, all upazila executive officers and upazila project implementation officers have been instructed to take the necessary preparations, he added.
In Cox's Bazar, more than Tk20 lakhs have been allocated to face any emergency. Besides, 590 metric tons of rice, three and a half metric tons of toast biscuits, three tons of dry cake, 20,000 packets of oral saline, and 40,000 water purification tablets have been allocated.
8,600 volunteers under the Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) and 2,200 Red Crescent Society volunteers have been kept ready in this district. Besides, 576 cyclone shelters have been kept ready to accommodate 550,099 people as the forecast indicates that Cox's Bazar is the most vulnerable.
Meanwhile, Tk 14,08,500 has been allocated to the Chattogram district.
Also, 608 metric tons of rice, 3.5 metric tons of toast biscuits, three metric tons of dry cake, 30,000 packets of oral saline, and 60,000 water purification tablets have been stored.
Moreover, 530 permanent and 500 temporary shelters have been prepared in the district which has a capacity to shelter 5,01,110 people.
Meanwhile, 16,880 volunteers of CPP and Red Crescent Society have been kept ready. They are updating weather information on the loudspeaker to make people aware.