Evacuations Underway As Pakistan Braces For Cyclone Biparjoy

26,855 people have been evacuated across Pakistan’s Sindh province, said the state’s information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon

Evacuations were underway in Pakistan ahead of cyclone Biparjoy/Representational Image

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Evacuations were underway in Pakistan as well in the wake of cyclone Biparjoy continuing to move north-northwestward and weakening into a “very severe cyclonic storm”. 26,855 people have been evacuated across Pakistan’s Sindh province, said the state’s information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, as per a report by Dawn. Of all the people evacuated so far, 19,205 evacuations were conducted by the government while the remaining had voluntarily moved to safer locations, the report added. 

“Desks have been set up by the health department at relief camps in vulnerable areas to prevent the spread of diseases,” Memon said during a Sindh Assembly session today. He also shared a list detailing the evacuations on Twitter.

Sindh Chief Minister has also directed all commissioners and deputy commissioners that food and other essential commodities are provided to the people in relief camps, he said, adding The Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority was “proactive” and all the ministers had been instructed to remain in the field.

The minister advised citizens to stay indoors as leaving the houses would “unnecessarily create hurdles for the rescue services”. 

“All kinds of unnecessary movement have been restricted […] Seaview has also been cordoned off,” he told the provincial assembly, the report added. 

He also stressed the importance of taking precautionary measures in Karachi but at the same time called on the public to refrain from panicking.

“There are predictions of a cloudburst in Karachi which is concerning,” he said. “However, updates are still coming in and nothing conclusive can be said at the moment.”

The Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre on Monday morning issued an alert saying the cyclone had moved further north-northwestward during the last 12 hours and had weakened into a “very severe cyclonic storm”.

As per the country's weather department, the cyclone now lay at a distance of about 470km south of Karachi. 

The alert stated that the weather department predicted dust/thunderstorm-rain with few heavy falls and accompanied with squally winds of 60-80km/hour in Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allayar, Shaheed Benazirabad, and Sanghar districts from June 14-16.