A "super cyclone" is expected to hit India later this week and is likely to cause severe damage to vulnerable areas that it hits. The country is currently planning to evacuate more than a million that could be affected by the storm.
On Wednesday the cyclone is expected to make landfall while gathering strength over the Bay of Bengal. The states of West Bengal and Odisha along with several coastal areas of Bangladesh have been placed on high alert in expectation of Amphan.
Two disasters at a time
Cyclone Amphan will bring heavy rainfall with powerful storms and strong winds that rage up to 115mph. The storm is expected to affect the East Indian and Bangladesh coast and will bring with it flooding and potential power outages and might even scratch houses and crops off the landscape.
According to CNN, the Category 4 Atlantic hurricane will weaken before making landfall near the Ganger River Delta, experts say.
Even after weakening, however, it still poses a significant threat as it is expected to make landfall near densely populated areas with sport relatively weak infrastructure. It also gives the potential for storm surges as it is possible for it to land in the low-lying delta that could reach up to 30 feet in height.
The weather phenomenon appears amid the global pandemic and brings its own set of difficulties and challenges while the world is still picking up pieces left by the coronavirus.
The pandemic also affects the efforts of ensuring the nation's safety as social distancing guidelines and protocols contradict mass evacuation procedures.
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Mass evacuation
In Odisha, more than 1.1 million citizens who live within high-risk areas are to be evacuated by officials. They will be transferred over to several of the 550 cyclone shelters and 7,000 concrete buildings that were built to house evacuees, as reported by The Guardian.
Fishermen have been advised not to "venture into the South Bay of Bengal during the next 24 hours, and North Bay of Bengal from 18-20 May," by the Indian meteorological department.
The director-general of the Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), SN Pradhan, said on Monday that Amphan "will turn into a very severe cyclonic storm by this evening and continue to be so for some time."
He also said that "A total of 37 teams have been deployed by the NDRF in West Bengal and Odisha, out of which 20 teams are actively deployed, and 17 are on standby in the two states." Pradhan also acknowledged that the super cyclone brought with it difficulties as it arrives amid the coronavirus pandemic, complicating the necessary countermeasures that are designed in situations such as this.
A high-level meeting was held on Monday by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, to discuss countermeasures against the storm's arrival. He tweeted "I pray for everyone's safety and assure all possible support from the central government."
The Cox's Bazar refugee camps, which are expected to be severely hit by the cyclone, is home to more than a million refugees. The camp announced its first case of coronavirus infection last week which, as experts said, will be difficult to contain and may have catastrophic and immediate devastation.
