The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The severe cyclone 'Nargis' hit outlying coastal regions of Myanmar yesterday evening skipping Bangladesh, according to reports received in Dhaka from Yangon, the main city of erstwhile Burma.

As per the satellite image, the track of the Nargis, was packing winds of 120 to 150 miles (192 to 240 kilometres) similar to that of the super Cyclone 'Sidr', was moving to hit Myanmar's main city Yangon at night, meteorologists in Dhaka said.

Meanwhile, foreign news agencies from Yangon reported that the severe cyclone Nargis had already hit outlying coastal regions and was packing winds of 120 to 150 miles (192 to 240 kilometres) per hour, Tun Lwin, Director General of the Meteorological Department in Yangon, told journalists yesterday evening.

The storm was centred about 210 kilometres west of Haing Gyi island at the mouth of the Ayeyawaddy (Irrawaddy) River, or about 430 kilometres southwest of Yangon at about 5:30 Bangladesh time (BDT).

"The cyclone started to hit Ayeyawaddy Division since this (Friday) morning. It will hit Ayeyawaddy, Yangon and Bago Divisions in late evening. The tide could be increased by 10 to 12 feet (three to 3.5 metres)," the top meteorologist of Myamar said.

Myanmar's state-run electronic and print media have been constantly running warnings about the impending storm.

Haing Gyi Island could not be contacted for further information after it was hit.

The Myanmar Meteorological Department, however, could not tell anything about the extent of damage or casualties that storm had caused.

Many fishermen of Myanmar landed in different areas of Teknaf Police Station under Cox's Bazar district in Bangladesh with their boats and trawlers to evade the wrath of the cyclone.

Senior officials of Met Office in Dhaka said the fishing crews have been told to stay close to the shore and not to venture into the Bay of Bengal, after fears it would slam into the southeast coast.

Senior meteorologist Ayesha Khatun said the Bangladesh was likely to escape the impact of Nargis.

"It is not going to hit Bangladesh. It will hit Myanmar later Friday. Teknaf, the southern tip of Bangladesh could be affected," she said.

When contacted, Taslim, a local journalist from Cox' Bazar, told The New Nation last night that Nargis did neither hit Teknaf nor any islands of the southern-most district of the country.

"There were rains accompanied with winds in slow speed in some places, including Balukhali, under Ukhiya upazila, which I visited this afternoon," he said, there was no damage in those areas.

The latest Met Office bulletin in Dhaka, last night, said, "The severe cyclonic storm with a core of hurricane winds, 'Nargis' over east central Bay and adjoining area, moved eastwards and was crossing Myanmar coast near Bassein at 6.00 pm Friday."

The Met Office has advised the maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and Mongla to hoist distant warning signal number two.

Earlier, the Government took all preparations to face the cyclone Nargis and alerted the coastal district administrations. Some 42,000 volunteers were also ready for the evacuation of the coastal people, if necessary.

The cyclone 'Nargis' formed on Sunday last and created panic among people of the south and southeastern coastal areas while the whole nation was apprehending another crop loss during harvesting period of Boro paddy, the single major source of domestic rice production.

The country is still picking up the pieces of the November 15 (2007) devastating cyclone Sidr, which smashed into the south and southwester coasts and battered major parts of the country, left a trail of destruction and killing more than 4,300 people. Preceded by two successive floods, Sidr along with the flooding caused 2 million tonnes of food shortage, which the nation was still struggling to manage.

Half a million people perished in a cyclone on November 12 in 1970. Some 168,000 died in another cyclone on April 29 in 1991.