Chittagong district administration has prepared 609 cyclone shelters to deal with Cyclone Midhili over the Bay of Bengal.
Deputy Commissioner Abul Bashar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman provided the information at an emergency preparedness meeting held on Thursday.
The DC confirmed the readiness of 609 cyclone shelters to tackle the approaching cyclone.
Among these, 116 are situated within Chittagong city, while 493 are spread across the Chittagong district.
The deputy commissioner said: “Directives have been issued to upazila nirbahi officers (UNO) and district secondary and primary education officers to identify and prepare various educational institutions as additional shelter facilities.”
On the instructions of the deputy commissioner, the district relief and rehabilitation officer presented the relief situation in the meeting.
The district relief and rehabilitation officers said the district administration currently possesses cash amounting to Tk22.30 lakh for relief purposes, 244 tons of rice, Tk6.80 lakh for cattle feed, Tk6.80 lakh for baby food, 472 bags of dry food, 1,000 blankets, and 47,000 ORsaline in stock.
The meeting was attended by heads of various district-level government departments, representatives of city corporations, the upazila chairman's office, the upazila nirbahi officers, the assistant commissioner (land), upazila project implementation officer, various NGOs, media workers, and activists of voluntary organizations.
The deputy commissioner has directed the opening of control rooms in emergency service providers, especially hospitals, electricity, gas, water, and city corporations, organizing emergency meetings of disaster management committees at the upazila level, and taking the activities of all departments as per their respective SOP.
Apart from this, various NGOs, voluntary organizations, and media have been instructed to participate in disaster management, to continue the awareness activities in the coastal and mountainous areas, and to contact the district relief and rehabilitation officer and the district administration's control room number in case of any emergency.
The deputy commissioner added: “All sorts of preparations have been made to address any potential disaster.”