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How Gujarat, Pakistan are bracing for cyclone Biparjoy. Details on preparations
Narendra Modi chaired a high-level review meeting as 'Biparjoy' has strengthened to become a powerful cyclone and could hit Gujarat and parts of Pakistan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a high-level review meeting as cyclone 'Biparjoy' off the west coast has strengthened to become a powerful cyclone and could hit Gujarat and southern parts of Pakistan this week.
The cyclone is expected to make landfall on Thursday afternoon between Mandvi in Gujarat and Karachi in Pakistan with a maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 km per hour, gusting up to 150 km per hour, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday.
Nearly a dozen districts in coastal Gujarat would be affected by heavy rainfall and gusting winds, although some of the districts are sparsely populated, which would limit the damage, said a weather office official told news agency Reuters.
Two of the country's biggest ports - Mundra and Kandla - are in the Gulf of Kutch, while the Jamnagar refinery, the world's biggest oil refinery complex owned by Reliance Industries, is based in Saurashtra.
Gujarat and parts of Pakistan to be affected by cyclone 'Biparjoy':
1. The IMD has advised fishing communities to halt operations and the evacuation of people from the coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat.
2. The Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited, in a stock exchange filing on Monday, said operations at its Pipavav Port had been suspended since late evening on Saturday due to "prevailing severe weather conditions".
3. Seven teams of India's National Disaster Response Force or NDRF and 12 teams of State Disaster Response Force or SDRF have been deployed in the districts likely to be affected by the storm, chief minister Bhupendra Patel said in a tweet.
4. The Centre has directed the Gujarat government to regulate onshore and offshore activities and mobilise evacuation from coastal areas of Saurashtra and Kutch from districts including Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh and Morbi.
5. The IMD has warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall in the districts of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar on June 15. A few places in other districts of Saurashtra region close to the coast will receive heavy to very heavy rainfall, while isolated places in north Gujarat districts will also receive heavy rainfall, the IMD added.
6. In neighbouring Pakistan, the National Disaster Management Authority or NDMA said instructions are being given to take precautionary measures in southern and southeastern parts of the country that are likely to be affected.
7. The NDMA said the cyclone is expected to impact southern and south-eastern parts of Sindh on June 13. Officials from the Sindh provincial government also said they are preparing to evacuate people from three districts likely to be affected. Sindh is the second most populated province in the country.
8. The NDMA has also issued directions that all high-rise buildings and mobile towers in Karachi must be lit up by beacon lights and big advertisement boards on poles and buildings should either be strengthened or removed altogether if they pose a threat to passing traffic and the people.
9. In another precautionary measure, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority’s airside department has also alerted the relevant officials to ensure the safety of lightweight aircraft and other electrical equipment by taking precautionary measures such as mooring of parked light aircraft or re-parking to a safer place.
10. A 1998 cyclone killed at least 4,000 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Gujarat.
(With inputs from Reuters, PTI, ANI)
