C T Online Desk: The very severe cyclone Mocha damaged 12,750 houses in Cox’s Bazar and Chattogram, a preliminary estimate by the disaster management and relief ministry found, indicating that the storm that largely spared Bangladesh turned many families homeless.
Of the damaged houses, 12,500 were in Cox’s Bazar and 250 were in Chattogram, according to the disaster management ministry control room.
Many families are still living in cyclone shelters in Saint Martin’s island, which mostly remained detached from the mainland until Monday.
Monday morning revealed the trail of destruction Mocha left in Saint Martin’s island and also in Jaliapalong and Sabrang unions in Ukhia and Teknaf, respectively.
Nazrul Islam, a former member of Saint Martin’s union parishad, told New Age that Mocha damaged 80 per cent of houses on the island.
‘And about 80 per cent of trees have either been uprooted or broken,’ he said.
At least 700 houses were completely blown away by Mocha’s wind, leaving no indication that they once existed.
Many families are staying at their relatives’ houses in the island and searching for their missing houses almost without any luck. The houses were shredded piece by piece by the wind that exceeded the speed of 100kph around noon and continued to blow with more or the same ferocity until 5:30pm on Sunday.
Some managed to find pieces of the corrugated iron sheet that once served as their roof, while others found a cooking pot or a chair a long way from where they once had them in their houses.
‘I bought a plastic sheet in the morning to cover part of my house,’ said Habibur Rahman, another member of Saint Martin’s union parishad.
A part of Habib’s house lost its roof to the powerful wind of Mocha, which unleashed the full scale of devastation in Sittwe and other parts of Myanmar after making landfall around Sunday noon.
Saint Martin’s islanders recalled that they had not seen a cyclone with such strong winds since the 1991 cyclone that affected Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and China with 260kph wind in April, causing nearly 140,000 deaths.
The 1991 cyclone caused a storm surge of over 6 meters.
‘We still think we are lucky that Mocha struck during the ebb,’ said Habib, explaining that the Mocha wind weakened just when the tide started.
‘Unprecedented storm surge could have been triggered by the wind if it blew during the tide,’ said Habib.
Shafikul Islam, a tourist guide at the island, regretted that the rest of the country left them there to be dead, for they did not have enough space to take shelter or food to stay in the shelter for long.
‘We starved even during our short stay,’ said Shafik.
‘We waited for a monstrous cyclone in the middle of the sea without a single piece of life jacket,’ he said.
Mocha also blew away parts of the solar power plant, plunging 10,000 islanders into darkness.
Ukhia upazila nirbahi officer Imran Hossain Sajib said that over 3,000 houses were partially or completely damaged in the cyclone.
‘A large number of trees were also uprooted or snapped by Mocha,’ said Imran.
In Teknaf and Ukhia, heavy wind and rain also damaged summer vegetables, fruits, and betel leaf farms.
The cyclone also affected 2,826 shelters in Rohingya camps, destroying 278 and partially damaging 2,548, as per a report by the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner.
The Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, also named Mizanur Rahman, said that 32 learning centres, one healthcare centre, and 29 mosques were also affected, while the cyclone triggered landslides in 120 places inside the camps.
It could not be immediately confirmed whether or not the government’s account of house losses included Rohingya camp damages.
The Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport resumed operations on Monday morning. The airport had suspended its operation at 6:00 am on March 13.
United News of Bangladesh reported, quoting state minister for disaster management and relief, Enamur Rahman, that the government had started distributing corrugated iron sheets and cash for the rehabilitation of people in affected areas.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department advised the maritime ports of Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla, and Payra to lower signals.
In a press release, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said that 243 of the 974 sites of four mobile operators were inoperative until Monday.
