The tropical cyclone ‘Mahasen’ is heading towards coastal part of the Bay of Bengal and at any time it may cross any parts of Bangladesh or India or Myanmar on 15 – 17, May 2013.
This cyclone is likely to intensify and move in a north to north-westerly direction. The maximum sustained wind speed is expected to rise up to 88 km per hour. The sea is expected to remain very rough within the region.
Caritas has been implementing disaster preparedness in seven districts that are now under the threat. In these areas Caritas has 45 field offices, 347 field staff (45% are women) and 5,344 Volunteers (40% are women) who are trained on cyclone preparedness works.
Caritas Bangladesh has organised an emergency meeting of the National Core Team for Disaster Management and formed four teams with specific emergency responsibilities.
At a regional level, Caritas has arranged an emergency fund, made sure rescue materials are ready for use, made staff ready, and coordinated with the government.
At the field level, Caritas organised communities into committees so everyone knows who will do what and kept them informed with regular weather updates, advised them on how to protect their household materials and helped them identify nearby safe places for shelter.