KARACHI: The country’s coastal regions were on high alert on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of people being evacuated to stave off the impact of the cyclone, which is expected to make landfall on Thursday (today).
Biparjoy currently a “very severe cyclonic storm” is inching closer to India and Pakistan, prompting authorities to take preventive measures to minimise the damage it may cause to life and property.
The Met department’s advisory released on Wednesday night showed that Biparjoy had moved north-eastwards during the past six hours.
Late on Wednesday night, the cyclone lay at about 310km south of Karachi, 300km south-southwest of Thatta and 240km south-southwest of Keti Bandar.
The cyclone is likely to reduce its strength after hitting the land, but the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has asked fishermen not to venture into the open sea until Saturday.
In a press conference in Islamabad, Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said the cyclone’s distance from Karachi was increasing as it had veered eastwards, but at the same time warned that it was coming closer to the coastal areas.
The minister cautioned that both thunder and rainstorms were expected to occur, which could cause substantial damage. She urged people, especially in Karachi, to refrain from dabbling in “disaster tourism” and going to the beach to witness the storm and called on them to cooperate with authorities.
Driven by winds of around 100 to 120 kilometres per hour and a huge cloud mass spanning over 200 to 300km over the sea, Biparjoy was projected to hit land between Keti Bandar in Sindh and Indian Gujarat’s coast on Thursday evening, posing multiple threats to the coastal areas in both the countries, official siad. Keti Bandar, one of the most impoverished towns of Sindh, is likely to face the cyclone’s brunt and is officially stated to be completely evacuated.
Several low-lying settlements in Thatta and Sujawal, most of which were already evacuated, saw high-tide flooding. Rising seawater levels in other fishing villages, including those in Karachi’s Ibrahim Hyderi and Badin, panicked people. Still, many people are reluctant to leave their homes.
“Despite deteriorating weather, many residents of coastal villages, including Ahmed Raju, Golo Mandro, Dars Mandro and Seerani at Zero Point, the coastal area bordering India, are unwilling to leave their homes, citing lack of trust in the government’s capacity to provide them with basic facilities at relief camps,” a senior government doctor based in Badin city said, adding that law enforcement agencies had to evacuate people forcibly.
Last night, he said, dozens of people at a relief camp set up at an army public school in Badin protested over poor conditions at the site and blocked the road. Several fishermen were still at sea.
She also asked for the cyclone not to be linked with nature but with climate change as a result of human activity and emissions. “Pakistan has become a hotspot of climate change,” she said.