KARACHI   -   Evacuations continued through the day as cy­clone Biparjoy moved toward Sindh’s coastal belt on Tuesday.

The cyclone was now 380km south of Kara­chi, said the latest advi­sory by PMD. National Disaster Management Authorities (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik said Tues­day that — in a bid to ensure the safety of those living in the coun­try's coastal belt ahead of the very severe cy­clonic system (VSCS) Biparjoy — around 100,000 people will be shifted to safer places by tomorrow evening (June 14).

The NDMA chair­man's remarks came during a presser in the federal capital regard­ing the arrangement made to protect citi­zens ahead of June 15 — the day the storm is expected to make its landfall between Kara­chi and India's Gujarat.

"Measures to control the storm's effects and weather damage are in progress," Malik said.

"The Sindh gov­ernment along with non-governmental or­ganisations (NGOs) and relief camp medical mis­sions in Balochistan have been alerted," he add­ed. In the same presser, Climate Change Minis­ter Sherry Rehman said:

The storm is now heading to­wards Balochistan,” adding that the government is in constant touch with the NDMA.

Later in the evening, Climate Change Minister Sherry Reh­man said dust storms had be­gun on the Hyderabad-Karachi highway and urged the public to stay safe. Pakistan Meteorolog­ical Department’s Tropical Cy­clone Warning Centre at 9:30pm on Tuesday said the cyclone had moved further north-north­westward during the last six hours and now lay at a distance of about 380km south of Kara­chi and 390km south of Thatta..

“Maximum sustained surface winds are 150-160km/hour, gusts 170km/hour around the system centre and sea condi­tions being phenomenal around the system centre with maxi­mum wave height [of] 30 feet. Favourable environmental con­ditions … are in support to sus­tain its (cyclone’s) strength through the forecast period,” the centre said.

It said that under the exist­ing conditions, the cyclone was “most likely” to track further northward until the morning of June 14 (Wednesday), then re­curve northeastward and cross between Keti Bunder and the Indian Gujarat coast on the af­ternoon/evening of June 15 as a “very severe cyclonic storm” packing winds of 100-120km/hour, gusting 140km/hour.

The alert said that widespread wind-dust/thunderstorm rain with some very heavy/extreme­ly heavy falls accompanied with squally winds of 80-100km/hour gusting 120km/hour were likely in Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas and Umerkot between June 13-17.

Dust/thunderstorm-rain with few heavy falls and ac­companied with squally winds of 60-80km/hour are likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Mo­hammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Shaheed Benazirabad and Sang­har districts from June 14-16.

Storm surge of 3-3.5 me­tres high are expected at point of landfall, Keti Bunder, and its surrounding areas, which would inundate low-lying settlements, the alert said. The centre also advised fishermen to not ven­ture out into the open sea till the system abated by June 17.

It said sea conditions along Sindh’s coast may get “very rough to high”, with storm surge of 2-2.5 metres. Similar­ly, rough to very rough sea con­ditions were expected along Ba­lochistan’s coast — with storm surge of two metres — that cov­ers Sonmiani, Hub, Kund Malir, Ormara and surroundings areas.

According to the alert, dust/thunderstorm-rain with isolat­ed heavy falls are also expected in the Hub and Lasbela districts of Balochistan from June 14-16 June. Meanwhile, squally winds may cause damage to loose and vulnerable structures, including kutcha houses and solar panels.

Meanwhile, The prime min­ister, who chaired a meeting to review the preparedness ahead of the cyclone’s possible impact, asked the Sindh government, NDMA and other organisations to ensure the establishment of mobile hospitals in coastal ar­eas and provide adequate emer­gency medical assistance there.

He said in view of the storm, special arrangements for clean drinking water and food should be made at the camps of dis­placed persons. The prime min­ister instructed Power Minis­ter Khurram Dastgir to ensure his presence in the districts of southern Sindh until the ef­fects of the cyclone were over, to monitor the 24-hour pow­er transmission system in the coastal areas. PM Shehbaz said that after the cyclone, the possi­ble damage to the power trans­mission system should be re­paired immediately.

He also set up a committee to deal with the emergency situ­ation arising in view of the cy­clone. To be headed by Rehman, the committee would comprise the power minister, Food Secu­rity Minister Tariq Bashir Chee­ma, NDMA chairman, represen­tatives of Sindh and Balochistan governments, the Meteorologi­cal Department and the Nation­al Institute of Health. The prime minister instructed the commit­tee for constant consultation to deal with the situation arising from the cyclone and keep the people aware of any possible emergency. He said that com­plete evacuation of people from coastal areas should be ensured besides providing relief mate­rials to the people of the areas likely to be affected. “All the in­stitutions will collectively deal with the possible situation aris­ing from the Biparjoy cyclone,” he resolved.

They were told that accord­ing to the current situation, the storm was likely to hit Keti Bunder on June 15 and was pre­dicted to end completely within three days. Winds are blowing at an average speed of 140-150km per hour.

The gathered officials were further informed that 90 per cent of 50,000 people from 9,000 households were relocat­ed from the coastal areas.

The participants were briefed that displaced people were be­ing accommodated in govern­ment buildings and tempo­rary camps where the Pakistan Army, NDMA, provincial gov­ernment and district admin­istration were providing food, tents, mosquito nets and clean drinking water.

The officials were told that all rescue and relief organisations in the possibly affected coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan were on high alert. Apart from this, the fishermen who were al­ready in the sea were also being evacuated besides disallowing others from going to the sea.

The meeting’s participants were also briefed about the ar­rangements to deal with the sit­uation arising in Karachi due to the change in the route of the storm. They were told that as rains were expected in Kara­chi, the NDMA, provincial bod­ies, district administration and all related organisations were ready to deal with any emergen­cy situation. Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah paid a surprise visit to the city to ensure the removal of bill­boards, neon signs, traffic sign boards, and other loose installa­tions to avert damage or any un­toward incidents during the cy­clonic winds which are expected to lash the city on June 15.

Mr Shah without protocol, ac­companied by Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput and Commission­er Karachi Iqbal Memon start­ed his visit right from Shah­rah-e-Faisal opposite FTC building, at the nursery, near the airport the foundation/structure of the billboard was still fixed. The CM directed the commissioners to activate his deputy commissioners and DMCs to remove them. Evacua­tion from Karachi: Briefing the chief minister, the commission­er said that the estimated pop­ulation to be affected during cy­clone was around 40,000 and the suspected population to be shifted to Rescue Points was around 5000 to 10,000. 

Lath Basti: Three buildings of educational institutions- Gov­ernment Primary School, Lath Basti, Degree College Cattle Colo­ny, and Tsunami Center Lath Basi had been designated as relief camps. The evacuation process was in progress and by the late evening another 13,650 would be shifted to safe places. The to­tal evacuation would come to 37,755 by Tuesday night. How­ever according to data shared by Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, a total of 56,895 people had been evacuat­ed from three districts in Sindh — Badin, Sujawal and Thatta.

Pakistan Navy was putting all its available resources at high alert to provide assistance to the inhabitants of coastal areas of Sindh in case of any emergency amid Biparjoy. Troops evacuat­ed 700 personnel from various Goths of Shah Bandar and 64 fish­ermen were rescued from sea. The Pakistan Rangers Sindh on the instructions of Director Gen­eral Rangers was providing full assistance to the civil adminis­tration in evacuation operations of evacuating the people from coastal villages to safe places.