The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Thousands of people in the southern coastal areas of the country are still panic-stricken in spite of the withdrawal of tsunami alert early yesterday.

The panic stricken people who fled their homes fearing a tsunami after a major earthquake off Indonesia Wednesday afternoon are yet to return home in the low-lying coastal areas.

An urgent government warning that a tsunami could hit after midnight was repeated frequently by both state and private televisions and radio stations. It was finally cancelled at 1:30 am yesterday.

However, a moderate tremor was felt at the coastal district of Barguna and also at Mongla Port in Khulna early in the morning yesterday. Under the influence of tremors, water level in the rivers in Bishkhali of Barguna district started swelling and rose by two to three feet bursting the banks and submerging fresh areas. Witnessing the waves of water in the river rising up to two to three feet, local people became panic stricken and many of them left their homes for safer places fearing a tsunami.

The local people in Mongla Port area also became panic-stricken after witnessing two to three feet high waves in the sea caused due to the moderate under the sea tremor.

Our Correspondents said thousands of people ran for safety from the areas near seashore after a moderate tremor jolted Barguna and Mongla Port yesterday.

Earlier, the Met office said Bangladesh coast might not be affected by the tsunami in the wake of earthquake in Indonesia.

It said that under the influence of the earthquake in southern Sumatra in Indonesia, a tsunami was likely to be generated along coasts located usually no more than 1,000 kms from the earthquake epicentre.

The Met Office issued warnings on Wednesday saying that a powerful earthquake that struck Indonesia Wednesday afternoon could send tsunami up to Bangladesh coast after Wednesday midnight

Officials in the coastal districts said some six lakh people were evacuated from coastal regions following the tsunami warning.

Police with hailers raised the alarm till Wednesday midnight in the coastal regions after the 8.4-magnitude earthquake occurred hundreds of miles south in the Indian Ocean.

District administration and Red Crescent society workers along the Cox's Bazar beach asked tourists to leave the beach immediately in the evening. Using megaphones they announced that a tsunami might hit the coastal belt at around midnight

The water level at Cox's Bazar shore unusually rose by about 2.5 feet at night, sparking panic among tourists and residents of the resort town.

The national football team training on the beach returned to the hotel after the warning. Later, they were shifted to Cox's Bazar Circuit House.

Patuakhali district administration imposed a red alert at Kuakata sea beach, and coastal Kalapara and Galachipa upazilas for an indefinite period following the tsunami warning.

District administration officials using loudspeakers started making announcements to make people aware about the situation.

DC Office sources said they received an emergency message at about 7:30pm from the Ministry of Relief and Disaster Management about the possible tsunami and directive to take necessary actions.

Officials of the Chitagong district administration said some five lakh pople left their homes. They took shelter in schools, colleges, cyclone shelters and safe houses.

"There was a panic but we used loudspeakers to ask people to take shelter in safe places," an official said.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India also issued tsunami alerts but cancelled them hours later as the threat of giant waves receded.

"We started using hailers at 8:00 pm after the government's order," said a senior police official of the southern island of Sandwip, where some one lakh people took sheltered in the cyclone centers.

Efforts were made to take the fishermen in the Sundarbans to the safer places.

Our Chitagong Correspondent reported that the local administration started evacuating inhabitants of the coastal areas of Chitagong after the evening.

Some 70,000 people were evacuated to cyclone shelters, colleges, schools and government buildings, the police official said.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an alert for the entire Indian Ocean area including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives--all affected by the devastating December 2004 Asian tsunami. But the centre said later the danger had passed.

Bangladesh escaped the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which killed 2,20,000 people in a dozen of countries after another massive earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island.

But officials, unwilling to take chances, opened disaster control rooms in the capital and the districts to coordinate the evacuation after Wednesday's quake.

The district administrations in the coastal areas have been ordered to open temporary shelters so that people can stay the night there, said a senior government official.

Thousands of people in the southern district of Cox's Bazar were ordered to take shelter in safer places while ships were ordered to stay close to harbour in Chitagong Port