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Amphan Cyclone Evacuation Hampered By Coronavirus Social Distancing Needs

3 min read
Ananya Jain
Ananya JainUpdated on May 20, 2020, 14:28 IST

Amphan cyclone is one the fiercest cyclone in recent memory and threatens millions of people in eastern India and Bangladesh. The forecast of a potentially devastating and furious storm surge is nerve racking. 


The authorities in the state have decided to stage mass evacuation away from the path of furious cyclones as it is only the second “super cyclone” to form in the northeastern Indian Ocean since the recording has begun. 

But their efforts have been hampered by the need of social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic with infection numbers increasing in both the countries at a high speed. 

Out at sea the vast weather system visible from space packed winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour (150mph), the equivalent of a category four hurricane. 

It was expected to hit slightly before crossing the coasts of West Bengal and the neighbouring Bangladesh after 0900 GMT. 

But the storm could still be strong enough to “cause large scale and extensive damage”, said the head of India’s weather office Mrutyunjay Mohapatra.


This would come with very heavy rainfall, the system was expected to result in a storm surge which is pushing the sea levels several metres higher, his office said. 

Storm surges can force a wall of water to hit several kilometres inland, and are also responsible for massive destruction and loss of life during these severe cyclones. 

Victims of these severe storms

Our neighbour Bangladesh, which is home to 30 million people, is regularly battered by cyclones that have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in recent times. 

In previous years, Odisha was hit by a super cyclone that left approximately 10,000 dead in the year 1999, eight years after the typhoon, tornadoes and flooding killed 1,39,000 in Bangladesh. 

While the storms frequency and intensity have increased -- this phenomenon has been partly blamed on climate change, deaths of the people have fallen to faster evacuations, better technology and more shelters. 

But Bangladesh authorities are still scared that Amphan will be the most powerful storm front since Cyclone Sidr devastated the country in 2007, killing about 3,500 people and causing billions of dollars of damage. 

The country has been feverishly working to bring 2.2 million people to safety, while West Bengal was relocating 3,00,000 others

The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) aid group said people faced "an impossible choice" of braving the cyclone by staying put, or risking coronavirus infection in a shelter.

Authorities in both countries have said that they were using extra shelter space to reduce the crowding while making sure that everyone is wearing facemasks and also providing extra soap and sanitizer.  

"We are also keeping separate isolation rooms in the shelters for any infected patients," Bangladesh's junior disaster management minister Enamur Rahman told AFP.

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